Morphological enhancement to CuO nanostructures by electron beam irradiation for biocompatibility and electrochemical performance

This paper reports the effect of electron beam irradiation on CuO thin films synthesized by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method on copper foil for supercapacitor and biocompatibility application. Pristine and irradiated samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical study. Pristine and irradiated CuO films were pure monoclinic phase, with uniform nanostructures over the whole copper foil. After irradiation, CuO samples had formed innovative nanostructures. Biocompatibility of pristine and irradiated CuO samples suggest that CuO sample is non-toxic and ecofriendly. The specific capacitance of pristine and irradiated CuO strongly depends on surface morphology, and CuO electrodes after irradiation showed superior performance than pristine CuO. The highest specific capacitance of the 20 kGy irradiated CuO nanoflowers exceeded 511 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1 in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Irradiated CuO samples also showed lower ESR, and were superior to other report electrical energy storage materials.