Effects of bioactive compounds on the morphology and surface chemistry of MoO3/ZnMoO4 nanocomposite for supercapacitor

Over recent decades, considerable breakthroughs for supercapacitors have been reported particularly related to electrode material synthesis. In this study, spherical nanoshaped MoO3/ZnMoO4 electrode material was synthesized and functionalized by greener organic-inorganic framework. Here, we used E. cognata as a source of organic compounds. According to synthesis approach, Zn(O2CCH3)(2) (H2O)(2) and Mo-2(O2CCH3)(4) inorganic complex was treated with bioactive organic compounds and thermally annealed at high temperature to obtain MoO3/ZnMoO4 nanocomposite. Formation of MoO3/ZnMoO4 was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy, whereas X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed organic functional groups of synthesized material. Spherical shaped MoO3/ZnMoO4 nanocomposite revealed dual band gap at lower energies (eV) of 2.43 and 3.58 by Tauc equation. Furthermore, the synthesized material was scrutinized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The good supercapacitive features were observed with specific capacitance of 263 F/g and 110 F/g by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements, respectively. What is more, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed lower solution resistance (R-s) value of 0.4 omega due to additional electron pathways provided by organic species. Therefore, the current study demonstrated that organic template-derived MoO3/ZnMoO4 nanocomposite could be a potential candidate for electrochemical supercapacitor.