Nanocrystalline ruthenium oxide of fine mesoporosity prepared by templating for electrochemical capacitor applications

Abstract

Hydrous ruthenium-oxide (RuO x H y ) particles composed of nanocrystallites of ∼5 nm in size were prepared, using hexagonal self-ordered mesoporous SiO 2 (SBA-15) as a template and RuCl 3 as the ruthenium precursor. The material has a highly mesoporous structure with a sharp distribution of fine pores of size around 3–4 nm. A high specific capacitance of 954 F g −1 for the RuO x H y in 1 M H 2SO 4(aq) and a high energy density of 118.9 J g −1 (or 32.7 W h kg −1) were obtained from an electrochemical capacitor made with the material. Rectangular shape of the cyclic voltammetry was observed even increasing the scan rate to about 100 mV s −1.