Facile synthesis of mesoporous Co3O4 nanowires for application in supercapacitors

Abstract

In this work, we report a facile synthesis of mesoporous Co3O4 nanowires by solid-state thermal conversion of CoC2O4·2H2O precursors for supercapacitors. The formation mechanism of the ultra-long CoC2O4·2H2O nanowires is discussed based on a series of time-dependent experiments. Electrochemical measurements reveal that the mesoporous Co3O4 nanowires electrode exhibits a specific capacitance up to 250 F g−1 with a better capacity retention of 90.2% after 1000 continuous charge–discharge cycles at a constant current density of 5 A g−1. The good supercapacitor performance could be attributed to the unique mesoporous structure of the Co3O4 nanowires which provide fast ion and electron transfer.