Chemically synthesized hydrous RuO2 thin films for supercapacitor application

The hydrous RuO2 thin films have been successfully synthesized at low temperature on glass and stainless steel substrates using lucrative chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. Their structural, morphological, optical, electrical and wettability properties were studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), UV–vis–NIR spectrophotometer, two point probe method and water contact angle measurement techniques. The results showed that, the CBD method allows to formation of amorphous, porous, superhydrophilic, semiconducting, hydrous RuO2 thin films with optical band gap of 2.7 eV. The supercapacitive behavior of hydrous RuO2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte examined by cyclic voltammetric (CV) measurements showed maximum specific capacitance of 73 F g−1.

Research highlights▶ The hydrous RuO2 thin films have been successfully synthesized at low temperature on glass and stainless steel substrates using lucrative chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. ▶ The cost effective CBD method allows to formation of amorphous, porous, superhydrophilic, semiconducting, hydrous RuO2 thin films with 2.7 eV optical band gap. ▶ The supercapacitive behavior of hydrous RuO2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte showed maximum specific capacitance of 73 F g−1. ▶ The electrochemical parameters such as, specific power (SP), specific energy (SE) and coulombic efficiency (η%) is found to be 0.151 kW kg−1, 3.57 Wh kg−1 and 94%, respectively.