Effects of temperature on the capacitive performance of Ti/40%RuO2-60%ZrO2 electrodes prepared by thermal decomposition method

Electrode coatings of 40%RuO2-60%ZrO2 binary oxide were formed on Ti substrate by thermal decomposition method with the annealing temperature varying from 280 °C to 450 °C. The effects of annealing temperature on the structure, capacitive performance of the electrode coatings were investigated using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cyclic voltammetry. The XRD and TEM analyses showed that 290 °C was the critical crystallization temperature of RuO2. The 40%RuO2-60%ZrO2 oxide coating prepared at this temperature also exhibited the highest specific capacitance (949 F/g), owing to its special amorphous structure in combination with short range order microcrystallines, which brought out both the relatively good electrical and proton conductivity.