Self-templated one-step hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical actinomorphic flower-like SnO2-ZnO nanorods for high-performance supercapacitor application

Abstract

• A unique actinomorphic flower-like SnO 2 nanostructure was synthesized via the one-step hydrothermal method. • Achieved high specific capacitance is 797.23 F/g at 1 A/g current density and capacitance retention is 88.2% and coulombic efficieny is 98.7 %. In this paper, we demonstrate the unique actinomorphic flower-like morphology of a tin oxide -zinc oxide (SZ) nanocomposite that has been synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal method and investigated for supercapacitor (SC) application. The optical, morphological and elemental composition features of pure SnO 2 and SZ nanocomposite were carried out by using different characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, FESEM, HRTEM, and XPS. The SZ-10 nanocomposite was the most significant one and was used in the fabrication of all solid-state symmetric supercapacitor. Electrochemical analysis of the Galvano charging-discharging (GCD) curves achieved a high specific capacitance (Csp) of 797.23 Fg −1 at a current density (CD) of 1 Ag −1 . The cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve for the SZ-10 electrode shows the high Csp of 548.56 Fg −1 at a scan rate of 10 mV/s. It has superior cyclic stability with capacitance retention of 88.2% and coulombic efficiency of 98.7%, even after 5000 repetitive cycles. The SZ-10 electrode also shows a high energy density (ED) of 45.72 Whkg −1 and a power density (PD) of 406 Wkg −1, at a CD of 1 Ag −1 . Furthermore, the fabricated SC device is linked in series to turn on a commercial red LED that glows for 1 to 2 min. These investigations demonstrate that the SZ-10 nanocomposite is an excellent electrode material for high-energy storage devices for SC applications.