Highly Ordered Vertical Arrays of TiO2/ZnO Hybrid Nanowires: Synthesis and Electrochemical Characterization.

Abstract

We report the fabrication of vertically aligned hierarchical arrays of TiO2/ZnO hybrid nanowires, consisting of ZnO nanowires grown directly from within the pores of TiO2 nanotubes, through a combination of electrochemical anodization and hydrothermal techniques. These novel nano-architectured hybrid nanowires with its unique properties show promise as high performance supercapacitor electrodes. The electrochemical behaviour of these hybrid nanowires has been studied using Cyclic voltammetry, Galvanostatic charge-discharge and Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements using 1.5 M tetraethylammoniumtetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile as the electrolyte. Excellent electrochemical performances with a maximum specific capacitance of 2.6 mF cm-2 at a current density of 10 µA cm-2, along with exceptional cyclic stability, have been obtained for TiO2/ZnO-1 h hybrid material. The obtained results demonstrate the possibility of fabricating new geometrical architectures of inorganic hybrid nanowires with well adhered interfaces for the development of hybrid energy devices.