Porous vanadium nitride nanoribbon aerogel and its electrochemical properties

Abstract

Porous vanadium nitride nanoribbon aerogel (PVNNRA) was prepared by hydrothermal reaction at 180°C and subsequent ammonia treatment at 550°C using NH4VO3 as the precursor. The electrochemical properties of PVNNRA were discussed. SEM and TEM images demonstrated that as-prepared vanadium nitride showed a porous nanoribbon morphology with the width of 100–400 nm and the pore size of 10–20 nm. The analysis of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated that the charge-transfer resistance of PVNNRA electrode was 1.36 Ω cm2, indicating a high electrocatalytic activity for I3− reduction. The dye-sensitized solar cell fabricated with PVNNRA counter electrode achieved a conversion efficiency of 7.05%, which is closed to that of the cell fabricated with Pt counter electrode. The results of cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge tests demonstrated that PVNNRA has a good capacitive performance. At the current density of 0.5 A/g, PVNNRA exhibited a specific capacitance of 292.2 F/g in 2 mol/L KOH aqueous solution. Therefore, as-prepared PVNNRA can be considered as an effective electrode material for application in dye-sensitized solar cells and supercapacitors