Boron-doped cadmium oxide composite structures and their electrochemical measurements

•Samples are of nanofibrous nature.•All samples shows pseudocapacitive behavior.•3% B doped CdO shows good specific capacitance.•3% B doped CdO shows maximum 74.93% efficiency at 14 mA/cm2.•3% B doped CdO shows 0.8 Ω internal resistance.

Boron-doped and undoped cadmium oxide composite nanostructures in thin film form were prepared onto stainless steel substrates by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method using aqueous solutions of cadmium nitrate, boric acid and 1% H2O2. As-deposited films were annealed at 623 K for 1 h. The X-ray diffraction study shows crystalline behavior for both doped and undoped films with a porous topography and nano-wires type architecture, as observed in SEM image. Wettability test confirms the hydrophilic surface with 58° contact angle value. Estimated band gap energy is around 1.9 eV. Electrochemical behavior of the deposited films is attempted in 1 M KOH electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests. Maximum values of the specific capacitance, specific energy and specific power obtained for 3% B doped CdO film at 2 mV/s scan rate are 20.05 F/g, 1.22 Wh/kg and 3.25 kW/kg, respectively.

Graphical abstractConducting nano-fibrous 3% boron doped cadmium oxide thin films were prepared by SILAR and its super capacitive properties were studied.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide