Self-supported carbon coated TiN nanotube arrays: innovative carbon coating leads to an improved cycling ability for supercapacitor applications

Self-supported carbon coated TiN nanotube arrays are synthesized by an innovative conformal carbon coating technique based on a self-assembly approach of polymeric nano-micelles on nano-porous anodic aluminum oxide templates and a straightforward atomic layer deposition process to fabricate TiN. Unlike most reported studies, the functional carbon coating is prepared first in this attempt. Then, the active electrode material is deposited inside, guaranteeing a highly conformal coating and good control of the structural parameters, all combined with the self-supporting nature of the nanostructure array. The synthesized carbon coated TiN nanotube arrays are tested as a negative electrode material for aqueous based supercapacitor devices. It is shown that the functional carbon coating leads to an improved long-term cycling ability compared to bare TiN nanotube arrays.