Facile electrostatic coprecipitation of f-SWCNT/Co3O4 nanocomposite as supercapacitor material

A facile electrostatic co-precipitation route has been employed to prepare f-SWCNT/Co (3) O (4) nano-composite. The prepared samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and BET. Application of the prepared samples has been evaluated as supercapacitor material in 6 M KOH solution using cyclic voltammetry in different potential scan rates, ranging from 5 to 50 mV s(-1), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The specific capacitance of f-SWCNT/Co (3) O (4) has been calculated to be as high as 343 F g(-1), much higher than that of obtained for pure Co (3) O (4) nanoparticles (77 F g(-1)). Moreover, the composite material has shown better rate capability (55 % capacitance retention) in various scan rates in comparison with the pure oxide (40 % retention). The composite material also showed excellent cycling performance (92 % capacitance retention) over 5,000 continuous cycles. EIS results show that the composite material benefits form much lower charge transfer resistance, compared with Co (3) O (4) nanoparticles.