Biomorphic synthesis of mesoporous Co₃O₄ microtubules and their pseudocapacitive performance

Recent advances of modification effect in Co3O4-based catalyst towards highly efficient photocatalysis

Tricobalt tetroxide (Co3O4) has been developed as a promising photocatalyst material for various applications. Several reports have been published on the self-modification of Co3O4 to achieve optimal photocatalytic performance. The pristine Co3O4 alone is inadequate for photocatalysis due to the rapid recombination process of photogenerated (PG) charge carriers. The modification of Co3O4 can be extended through the introduction of doping elements, incorporation of supporting materials, surface functionalization, metal loading, and combination with other photocatalysts. The addition of doping elements and support materials may enhance the photocatalysis process, although these modifications have a slight effect on decreasing the recombination process of PG charge carriers. On the other hand, combining Co3O4 with other semiconductors results in a different PG charge carrier mechanism, leading to a decrease in the recombination process and an increase in photocatalytic activity. Therefore, this work discusses recent modifications of Co3O4 and their effects on its photocatalytic performance. Additionally, the modification effects, such as enhanced surface area, generation of oxygen vacancies, tuning the band gap, and formation of heterojunctions, are reviewed to demonstrate the feasibility of separating PG charge carriers. Finally, the formation and mechanism of these modification effects are also reviewed based on theoretical and experimental approaches to validate their formation and the transfer process of charge carriers.

Remarkable enhancement in the electrochemical properties of cosmetic brush-like Co3O4 nanowires via in situ surface modification with Ni2

Cosmetic brush-like Co3O4 nanowires grown on carbon cloth were prepared by regulating the addition of trisodium citrate by hydrothermal synthesis. Then a simple liquid-phase ion exchange was carried out to improve the electrochemical performance of Co3O4 by surface modification with Ni2+. After surface modification, at a current density of 4 A g-1, the specific capacity significantly increased from 276.1 C g-1 (720.5 F g-1) to 655.9 C g-1 (1525.4 F g-1). Meanwhile, the electrocatalytic oxidation performances of methanol and urea were also improved significantly. The enhanced electrochemical properties were attributed to the modification of the surface of Co3O4 with Ni2+.

Facile Synthesis of Bio-Template Tubular MCo2O4 (M = Cr, Mn, Ni) Microstructure and Its Electrochemical Performance in Aqueous Electrolyte

In this project, we present a comparative study of the electrochemical performance for tubular MCo2O4 (M = Cr, Mn, Ni) microstructures prepared using cotton fiber as a bio-template. Crystal structure, surface properties, morphology, and electrochemical properties of MCo2O4 are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), gas adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling (GCD). The electrochemical performance of the electrode made up of tubular MCo2O4 structures was evaluated in aqueous 3M KOH electrolytes. The as-obtained templated MCo2O4 microstructures inherit the tubular morphology. The large-surface-area of tubular microstructures leads to a noticeable pseudocapacitive property with the excellent electrochemical performance of NiCo2O4 with specific capacitance value exceeding 407.2 F/g at 2 mV/s scan rate. In addition, a Coulombic efficiency ~100%, and excellent cycling stability with 100% capacitance retention for MCo2O4 was noted even after 5000 cycles. These tubular MCo2O4 microstructure display peak power density is exceeding 7000 W/Kg. The superior performance of the tubular MCo2O4 microstructure electrode is attributed to their high surface area, adequate pore volume distribution, and active carbon matrix, which allows effective redox reaction and diffusion of hydrated ions.

Structure and Electrochemical Properties of Mn₃O₄ Nanocrystal-Coated Porous Carbon Microfiber Derived from Cotton

Biomorphic Mn₃O₄ nanocrystal/porous carbon microfiber composites were hydrothermally fabricated and subsequently calcined using cotton as a biotemplate. The as-prepared material exhibited a specific capacitance of 140.8 F·g⁻¹ at 0.25 A·g⁻¹ and an excellent cycle stability with a capacitance retention of 90.34% after 5000 cycles at 1 A·g⁻¹. These characteristics were attributed to the introduction of carbon fiber, the high specific surface area, and the optimized microstructure inherited from the biomaterial.

Mesoporous ZnMn2O4 Microtubules Derived from a Biomorphic Strategy for High-Performance Lithium/Sodium Ion Batteries

ZnMn₂O₄ microtubules (ZMO-MTs) with a mesoporous structure are fabricated by a novel yet effective biomorphic approach employing cotton fiber as a biotemplate. The fabricated ZMO-MT has approximately an inner diameter of 8.5 μm and wall thickness of 1.5 μm. Further, the sample of ZMO-MT displays a large specific surface area of 48.5 m² g^-1. When evaluated as a negative material for Li-ion batteries, ZMO-MT demonstrates an improved cyclic performance with discharge capacities of 750.4 and 535.2 mA h g^-1 after 300 cycles, under current densities of 200 and 500 mA g^-1, respectively. Meanwhile, ZMO-MT exhibits superior rate performances with high reversible discharge capacities of 614.7 and 465.2 mA h g^-1 under high rates of 1000 and 2000 mA g^-1, respectively. In sodium ion batteries applications, ZMO-MT delivers excellent high discharge capacities of 102 and 71.4 mA h g^-1 after 300 cycles under 100 and 200 mA g^-1, respectively. An excellent rate capability of 58.2 mA h g^-1 under the current density of 2000 mA g^-1 can also be achieved. The promising cycling performance and rate capability could be benefited from the unique one-dimensional mesoporous microtubular architecture of ZMO-MT, which offers a large electrolyte/electrode accessible contact area and short diffusion distance for both of ions and electrons, buffering the volume variation originated from the repeated ion intercalation/deintercalation processes.

Advance Aqueous Asymmetric Supercapacitor Based on Large 2D NiCo2O4 Nanostructures and the rGO@Fe3O4 Composite

NiCo₂O₄ nanostructure is a widely studied pseudocapacitor material because of its high specific capacitance value. Most of the time, the thickness of the nanostructure inhibits the electrode material from whole-body participation and causes sluggish charge transportation. These phenomena directly interfere with the electrochemical performance of the electrode, such as specific capacitance value, stability, energy density, and so forth. Here, two different thin two-dimensional morphologies (nanosheet and nanoplate) of the NiCo₂O₄ nanocomposite with a large lateral size are reported using ammonia as a hydrolyzing agent. The large size and flat surface of the as-synthesized materials offer enormous active sites during the electrochemical reaction, and the thin wall makes the ion penetration and transportation very effective and facile. Therefore, the NiCo₂O₄ nanosheet and nanoplate structures exhibited high specific capacitance values of 1540 and 1333 F/g, respectively, with excellent rate and good cycling stability. Here also, two different advance aqueous asymmetric supercapacitors have been reported utilizing two NiCo₂O₄ nanostructure materials as positive electrodes and the rGO@Fe₃O₄ composite as a negative electrode, which exhibited excellent rate and high specific energy without sacrificing the specific power. We also studied the electrochemical activity of the rGO@Fe₃O₄ composite at different compositions.

Suitable Morphology Makes CoSn(OH)6 Nanostructure a Superior Electrochemical Pseudocapacitor

Morphology of a material with different facet, edge, kink, etc., generally influences the rate of a catalytic reaction.1,2 Herein, we account for the importance of altered morphology of a nanomaterial for a supercapacitor device and employed CoSn(OH)6 as an electrode material. Suitable fabrication of a stable aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor (AAS) using metal hydroxide as positive electrode can be beneficial if the high energy density is derived without sacrificing the power density. Here we have synthesized an uncommon hierarchical mesoporous nanostructured (HNS) CoSn(OH)6 to fabricate a pseudocapacitor. In this endeavor, NH3 is found to be a well-suited hydrolyzing agent for the synthesis.3 Serendipitously, HNS was transformed into favored cubic nanostructure (CNS) in NaOH solution. In solution, NaOH acts as a structure directing as well as an etching agent. Both the samples (HNS & CNS) were used as pseudocapacitor electrodes in KOH electrolyte independently, which is reported for the first time. The HNS exhibits very high specific capacitance value (2545 F/g at 2.5 A/g specific current) with better cyclic durability over CNS sample (851 F/g at 2.5 A/g specific current). To examine the real cell application, we used HNS sample as the positive electrode material with the activated carbon (AC) as the negative electrode material for the development of an aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor (AAS). The as-fabricated AAS exhibited very high specific capacitance value of 713 F/g at a specific current of 1.5 A/g and retained 92% specific capacitance value even after 10 000 charge-discharge cycles. A maximum energy density of 63.5 Wh kg(-1) and a maximum power density of 5277 W kg(-1) were ascertained from the as-fabricated AAS, HNS CoSn(OH)6//AC.

Facile Self-Cross-Linking Synthesis of 3D Nanoporous Co3O4/Carbon Hybrid Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors

A hybrid electrode material with ultrafine Co3O4 nanoparticles embedded throughout a hierarchically nanoporous graphitic carbon matrix has been obtained via a facile self-cross-linking route. Sodium alginate, a biopolymer with an ability of cross-linking with multivalent cobalt cations to form ordered microcrystalline zones, is used as a carbon source to produce nanoporous carbon frameworks of the hybrids. Ultrafine Co3O4 nanoparticles with tunable particle size (3-30 nm) are in situ grown within the nanoporous graphitic carbon frameworks by a simple carbonization of Co-cross-linked alginate. The obtained hybrid electrodes exhibit high specific capacitance of 645, 548, 486, and 347 F/g at scan rates of 5, 10, 20, and 50 mV/s, respectively, and excellent cycle performance with only 1% fading in capacitance after 10 000 cycles at a high current density of 20 A/g. Such excellent capacitive performance is ascribed to the collaborative contributions of well-dispersed ultrafine Co3O4 nanoparticles and conductive nanoporous carbon frameworks.

Water as an agent for the morphology modification of metal oxalate materials on the nanoscale: from sheets to rods

A number of approaches have been used to control the shape of metal oxalates, which often used as precursors for metal oxide nanomaterials. However, attempts to use water as a regulator have not been reported. Here in we report systematic studies on related topics: nanosheets, composed of 1-dimensional [M(C2O4)(EG)] (M = Zn or Co) polymeric structure, could be transformed into nanorods by using water as a shape-shifting agent because water can readily substitute EG ligand, leading alternation of inter-chain hydrogen bonding interactions. In addition, heat-treatment of these nanomaterials with diverse morphologies resulted in porous metal oxides with high degrees of shape retention.

Ni0.9Co1.92Se4 nanostructures: binder-free electrode of coral-like bimetallic selenide for supercapacitors

Coral-like Ni_0.9Co_1.92Se₄ nanostructured materials have been prepared through a simple and controlled two-step solvothermal method, which present a handsome electrochemical performance.

Controllable fabrication of urchin-like Co3O4 hollow spheres for high-performance supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries

Urchin-like cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) hollow spheres can be successfully prepared by thermal decomposition of cobalt carbonate hydroxide hydrate (Co(CO₃)_0.5(OH)·0.11H₂O) obtained by template-assisted hydrothermal synthesis.

Co3O4/RGO/Co3O4 pseudocomposite grown in situ on a Co foil for high-performance supercapacitors

A Co₃O₄/RGO/Co₃O₄ pseudocomposite was grown in situ on a Co substrate using a one-step hydrothermal process and exhibited excellent electrochemical performances.

Co3O4 nanocrystals derived from a zeolitic imidazolate framework on Ni foam as high-performance supercapacitor electrode material

A binder-free method was adopted to obtain a Ni foam/Co₃O₄ electrode.

Mesoporous Transition Metal Oxides for Supercapacitors

Recently, transition metal oxides, such as ruthenium oxide (RuO₂), manganese dioxide (MnO₂), nickel oxides (NiO) and cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄), have been widely investigated as electrode materials for pseudo-capacitors. In particular, these metal oxides with mesoporous structures have become very hot nanomaterials in the field of supercapacitors owing to their large specific surface areas and suitable pore size distributions. The high specific capacities of these mesoporous metal oxides are resulted from the effective contacts between electrode materials and electrolytes as well as fast transportation of ions and electrons in the bulk of electrode and at the interface of electrode and electrolyte. During the past decade, many achievements on mesoporous transition metal oxides have been made. In this mini-review, we select several typical nanomaterials, such as RuO₂, MnO₂, NiO, Co₃O₄ and nickel cobaltite (NiCo₂O₄), and briefly summarize the recent research progress of these mesoporous transition metal oxides-based electrodes in the field of supercapacitors.

All-Solid-State Symmetric Supercapacitor Based on Co3O4 Nanoparticles on Vertically Aligned Graphene

We have synthesized the hybrid supercapacitor electrode of Co3O4 nanoparticles on vertically aligned graphene nanosheets (VAGNs) supported by carbon fabric. The VAGN served as an excellent backbone together with the carbon fabric, enhancing composites to a high specific capacitance of 3480 F/g, approaching the theoretical value (3560 F/g). A highly flexible all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor device was fabricated by two pieces of our Co3O4/VAGN/carbon fabric hybrid electrode. The device is suitable for different bending angles and delivers a high capacitance (580 F/g), good cycling ability (86.2% capacitance retention after 20 000 cycles), high energy density (80 Wh/kg), and high power density (20 kW/kg at 27 Wh/kg). These excellent electrochemical performances, as a result of the particular structure of VAGN and the flexibility of the carbon fabric, suggest that these composites have an enormous potential in energy application.

Facile solvothermal synthesis of porous ZnFe2O4 microspheres for capacitive pseudocapacitors

ZnFe₂O₄ microspheres, assembled by many primary nanocrystals, have been fabricated via a facile and cost-effective solvothermal approach and applied as pseudocapacitor electrode material.

Liquor ammonia mediated V(v) insertion in thin Co3O4 sheets for improved pseudocapacitors with high energy density and high specific capacitance value

Fabrication of ultrathin 2D Co₃V₂O₈ nanosheets for pseudocapacitors, with high specific capacitance value, high energy density and excellent rate capability.