Synthesis of activated carbon nanotube/copper oxide composites and their electrochemical performance

In this work, we synthesized copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticle-deposited activated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) to evaluate their potential applicability to supercapacitor electrodes. The ACNTs were prepared by chemical activation using KOH and then CuO/ACNTs composites were obtained by chemical deposition method. The structural and morphological characteristics of the CuO/ACNTs were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The changes of surface properties of CNTs were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) method. The electrochemical performance of CuO/ACNTs electrodes was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge characteristics in 6 M KOH electrolyte. The results showed that the CuO/ACNTs electrodes had typical pseudo-capacitive behavior and a greater specific capacitance than those of the CuO/CNTs electrodes. This was probably due to the synergistic effect induced between CuO and ACNTs.

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► The activated carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) were prepared by chemical activation using KOH.
► The copper oxide (CuO)/ACNTs composites were obtained by chemical deposition method.
► The CuO/ACNT electrodes have a specific capacitance of 60 F g−1 in 6 M KOH solution at a current density of 0.5 A g−1.