Study on preparation and performance of electrochemical supercapacitor based on La2O3/CNTs composites for energy storage applications

Abstract

An effective synthesized method of La2O3/CNTs composite was prepared by facile hydrothermal route. The composites of La2O3 nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be applied in many fields including energy storage. La2O3 nanoparticles were uniformly anchored on the surface of CNTs forming the La2O3/CNTs shell-core hierarchy architecture. Consequently, the La2O3/CNTs hybrid electrode displayed an excellent electrochemical performance in the asymmetric supercapacitor. Owing to the unique structure, the La2O3/CNTs electrode delivers a notably enhanced specific capacity (778.6F g−1 at 2 Ag−1) and superior rate characteristic in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. More importantly, the as-constructed asymmetric device using La2O3/CNTs as the cathode electrode and activated carbon as the anode electrode shows the high energy density of 58.5 Whkg−1 and good electrochemical steadiness in KOH/PVA gel electrolyte. Therefore, this strategy provides a novel mothed to synthesize La2O3 based electrode materials for energy storage system.