Synthesis and characterization of porous cobalt oxide/copper oxide nanoplate as novel electrode material for supercapacitors

A promising Co3O4/CuO composite electrode material was successfully synthesized through a facile hydrothermal and calcination process. Effects of the surfactants hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the morphology and electrochemical performance of the composite were investigated. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiment were employed to characterize the microstructures and morphologies of the composite. Meanwhile, the electrochemical performances of the samples were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that the porous Co3O4/CuO-CTAB nanoplates own the best performance and exhibits a high specific capacitance of 398 F/g at 1 A/g with almost 100% capacitance retention over 2000 cycles, and it retains 90% of capacitance at 10 A/g.