Electrochemical fabrication of Co(OH)2 nanostructures on electro-etched carbon fibers: Characterization and its supercapacitive behavior

• A facile way for fabrication of Co(OH)2 nanostructures on ECF substrate introduced.
• Electro-etching process resulted in a good adhesion between Co(OH)2 and carbon fibers.
• Electrodeposited Co(OH)2 nanostructures made a large increase in the specific capacitance.
• Co(OH)2-ECF brings a specific capacitance more than 1000 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in addition to good stability.

In this article, we report the electrochemical fabrication of cobalt hydroxide nanostructures on electro-etched-carbon fiber (Co(OH)2-ECF) by cathodic potential step method. Surface characterization studies were performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Electrochemical and capacitive behaviors of Co(OH)2-ECF were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge techniques in three and two-electrode systems. Our results confirmed the excellent supercapacitive behavior of Co(OH)2-ECF and reasonable cycling stability. These characteristics is originated from three dimensional structure of nanostructures which allows facile electrolyte transportation, in addition to the strong adhesion between Co(OH)2 and carbon fiber substrate. A specific capacitance of 1000 F g−1 at a current density of 3.1 A g−1 was obtained for Co(OH)2-ECF electrode.

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