Improved electrochemical behavior of metal oxides-based nanocomposites for supercapacitor

Abstract

This paper investigates the synthesis and enhanced electrochemical behaviors of ZnO and NiO/ZnO nanocomposites for electrode material of supercapacitors. ZnO and NiO/ZnO nanocomposites were produced via sol–gel technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used to determine the size and structure of as-synthesized nanomaterials, respectively. The capacitive behavior and charge–discharge characteristics of the electrode using ZnO and NiO/ZnO nanocomposites (as active material) were individually probed with the help of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests, respectively. The specific capacitance of nanocomposites-based electrode calculated from galvanostatic charge-discharge tests was 469[Formula: see text]F [Formula: see text] at the scan rate of 1[Formula: see text]mA [Formula: see text] in 1M Na2SO4 electrolyte. The power density and energy density at the current density of 1[Formula: see text]mA [Formula: see text] were determined as 1458.33[Formula: see text]W [Formula: see text] and 91.14[Formula: see text]Wh[Formula: see text][Formula: see text], respectively. Hence, NiO/ZnO nanocomposites could be reckoned to be a promising electrode material for supercapacitor while comparing to ZnO-based electrode material.