Y. Son, H.Y. Lee, D.K. Shah, M.S. Akhtar, O-B. Yang
Chonbuk National University,
Korea
Keywords: Bimetallic, Carbon nanofibers, Electrode, Electrocatalytic, Supercapacitors
Summary:
A bimetallic decorated carbon nanofibers based electrode for electrochemical supercapacitors: Excellent energy and power density Youhyun Son1, Ha Yeong Lee1, Deb Kumar Shah1, M. Shaheer Akhtar1,2*, O-Bong Yang1,2* 1School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea. 2New & Renewable Energy Material Development Center (NewREC), Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea It is well reported that, carbon materials such as activated carbon, mesoporous carbon, graphene, carbon nanotubes etc. display the potential conductive matrices materials for electrochemical devices owing to their excellent electronic conductivity, and chemical inertness against the corrosive electrolytes. Among various carbon materials, the carbon nanofibers (CNFs) set up a good platform to apply it as a promising material for the preparation of effective electrocatalytic materials as fibers have high surface-to-volume ratio. In the recent year, the transition metals doped CNFs have received immense attentions because they considerably enhance the electrical, and electrochemical properties. Nowadays, the bimetallic doping over CNFs are shown improved conductivity and good catalytic properties which might be the suitable materials for electrochemical devices. In this work, copper (Cu)-nickel (Ni) doped CNFs were prepared by the low cost facile electrospinning technique followed by the calcination of electrospun nanofiber mats. The carbonization of prepared Cu-Ni doped CNFs was carried out in a furnace for the partial decomposition of the utilized polymer and abnormal decom-position of the metallic acetate to achieve CuNi in CNFs. The prepared Cu-Ni doped CNFs were extensively characterized in the form of their morphology, structural, surface, compositional and electrochemical properties by various tools. Good surface properties such as surface area, pore size and pore volume achieved in the prepared Cu-Ni doped CNFs. As electro-active electrode in supercapacitors, a reasonably good specific capacitance of ~448 F/g was obtained. It is also seen that the fabricated supercapacitors based Cu-Ni doped CNFs presented excellent energy and power density.