Synergistic effect in structural and supercapacitor performance of well dispersed CoFe2O4/Co3O4 nano-hetrostructures

Abstract

Herein, we report a facile homogeneous urea – assisted hydrothermal approach for the design of CoFe2O4/Co3O4 nano hetrostructure. A variation in Co concentration leads to smartly designed composite material namely CFC-11 and CFC-12 where CFC-12 appreciates the benefits of both CoFe2O4 and Co3O4 nanoparticles. The physico – chemical properties of as developed materials were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The specific surface area and pore size distribution was determined by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halendo (BJH) respectively. Magnetic measurements via. vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) demonstrate that saturation magnetization decreases with the incorporation of Co3O4 antiferromagnetic nanoparticles. To explore the utility of as designed nano-hetrostructures as supercapacitor electrodes, we employed cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedence spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. A high specific capacitance of 761.1 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1, admirable cyclic durability of 92.2% and a low resistance value obtained from impedence measurements was observed for CFC-12. The favorable performance demonstrates the synergistic effect of CoFe2O4 and Co3O4 nanoparticles and thus promise an excellent material for energy storage devices.