Soft-template hydrothermal systhesis of nanostructured Copper(II) Tungstate cubes for Electrochemical Charge Storage Application

•Soft-template hydrothermal method is firstly respoted for CuWO4 samples.•Nano-size distribution of CuWO4 is mainly ascribed to the soft-template of P123.•Excellent performance is due to Low surface energy, blunt edges and active sites.

In this work, the soft-template hydrothermal method is firstly applied to synthesize nanocrystal CuWO4 cubes for the electrode materials in in electrochemical charge storage application. The structures and morphologies of as-obtained materials are characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The effects of the soft-template (P123) and surfactant (Hexamethylenetetramine) also are verified by the electrochemistry test including CV, GCD, EIS. As a result, the CuWO4-PH (synthesis with the assistance of P123 and Hexamethylenetetramine) shows a excellent specific capacitance (Csp) of 302.40 mAh g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 and a good rate capability (60.7% retension rate of original Csp even at 10 A g−1), as well as cycle life (82.1% retention rate of original Csp after 2000 cycles). These results reveal that our obtained CuWO4-PH could be a promissing electrode material.

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