Effect of carbon on galvanically deposited cuprous oxide as flexible charge storage electrode

• Electroless deposition of cuprous oxide was carried out on Al foil.
• Some combination of Carbon/Cuprous oxide composites were prepared from candle soot.
• Effect of carbon on the capacitance of the material were studied.
• Carbon deposition on cuprous oxide surface, reduced capacitance of the composite.
• Synthesized material may find application in microelectronic devices.

Electroless deposition of cuprous oxide was carried out on Al foil and heat treated at 370 °C. Different combination of Carbon/Cuprous oxide composites were prepared and labelled as Al-2, Al-3 & Al-4. Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) study revealed the formation of Cu2O for Al-2. FTIR studies revealed presence of Cu2O for non-heat treated Al-2 and CuO for heat treated Al-2. SEM micrograph showed the porous nature of Al-2, whereas, the least porosity was shown by Al-3. The resultant foils were electrochemically characterized using Cyclic Voltammetry, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Galvanostatic Charge Discharge techniques. On deposition of carbon on cuprous oxide surface, capacitance value of the composite decreased. Among them capacitance of Al-2 was found to be 475 mF g− 1 from the galvanostatic charge discharge studies. The capacitance was found to be 419.12 mF g− 1 and 296.87 mF g− 1 for Al-3 and Al-4 respectively.