Synthesis of ZnO tetrapods for high-performance supercapacitor applications

In this paper, the synthesis of ZnO tetrapods and its application as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors have been reported. The galvanostatic charge-discharge measurement results show that the specific capacitances of the ZnO tetrapods-based electrodes increase with the decrease of the current densities. The maximum capacitance is 160.4 F g-1 at the current density of 1.0 A g-1. The Ragone plot shows that the ZnO tetrapods have excellent supercapacitive performance. Moreover, the cyclic stability is measured by the galvanostatic charge/discharge technique at a constant current density of 10.0 A g-1 in 1.0 M Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The results show the excellent capacitance retention of 94.3% over 1000 cycles. In a word, ZnO tetrapods should be the ideal potential electrode materials for low-costing and effective electrochemical supercapacitors.