Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of unzipped multiwalled carbon nanotubes/titanium dioxide nanocomposite as a promising next-generation energy storage material.

Abstract

Carbon-based systems have been discussed as prospective alternatives for conventional metal-based catalysts over the past decade. These studies were motivated by the abundance, low cost, lightweight and diversity of structural allotropes of carbon. We reported here the synthesis of a new type of unzipped multiwalled carbon nanotubes/titanium dioxide (UzMWCNT/TiO2) nanocomposite by the two-stage procedure. By the modified Hummers method, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were converted to oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNT). Then, through a facile ultrasound-assisted route prepared UzMWCNT/TiO2 nanocomposite. For this, the oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes are treated with TiCl4 under an ultrasonic probe for 3h to generate UzMWCNT/TiO2 and then explored its environmental friendliness and energy applications as a supercapacitor. This novel UzMWCNT/TiO2 nanocomposite was characterized using XRD, TGA, FT-IR, Raman, TEM and EDX analysis. The electrochemical performance can be evaluated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charging-discharging (GCD) study. Finally, the electrodes prepared using UzMWCNT/TiO2 nanocomposite have been analyzed through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to probe the charge transfer characteristics and the results are consistent with other electrochemical measurements.