Surfactant assisted synthesis of Ni3V2O8 and their application as a supercapacitor

Abstract

This research focuses on employing hydrothermal method to synthesize nickel vanadate (Ni3V2O8) nanomaterial for energy storage applications using nickel nitrate hexahydrate and sodium metavanadate as raw material. Use of surfactant during hydrothermal synthesis process plays a very important role in defining morphology as well as electrical/optical/mechanical properties of the final product. In this study, three types of nickel vanadate are synthesized, first using an anionic surfactant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), second, using a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and third without using any surfactant, the grown products (nickel vanadate) are named as NVSLS, NVCTAB, and NV, respectively. The structural, morphological, and elemental properties of the obtained products are investigated by Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX), and FTIR techniques. Cyclic-voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge /discharge (GCD), are achieved to understand the energy storage capability of the acquired products. It is found that anionic surfactant, SLS, has improved energy storage performance whereas the cationic surfactant, CTAB, has degraded the energy storage performance of the grown nickel vanadate. Specific capacitance measured for NVSLS, NV and NVCTAB are 548, 237, and 50F/g at 2A/g current density, respectively.