Chemical synthesis of mesoporous CoFe2O4 nanoparticles as promising bifunctional electrode materials for supercapacitors

A promising mesoporous cobalt iron oxide (CoFe2O4) electrode material for supercapacitors has been synthesized via a chemical co-precipitation method using aluminum nitrate (Al(NO3)3) as a precursor of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) hard template. The as-prepared CoFe2O4 materials were spherical-like nanoparticles with diameter of around 25 nm. Moreover, the as-prepared CoFe2O4 materials exhibited a high specific surface area (140.6 m2 g−1) and high porosity (0.23 cm3 g−1). The fabricated CoFe2O4 electrode showed typical pseudocapacitive behavior with a broad potential window (1.5 V), a high specific capacitance (142 F g−1, 2 mV s−1) and a long cycling life (71.8% retention after 1000 cycles).