Fabrication of Natural Polymer Assisted Mesoporous Co3O4/Carbon Composites for Supercapacitors

Dextran assisted greener route has been used for the fabrication of mesoporous Co3O4/Carbon composite via co-precipitation method followed by heat treatment. The structural, morphological, elemental and pore size analysis were made for the prepared composites. The electrochemical characteristics of Co3O4/C composites have been studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and AC - impedance (EIS) analysis. Co3O4/C composite prepared at 500 degrees C exhibits maximum specific capacitance and 93.4% capacitance retention even at 2000 continuous charge-discharge cycles. The electrochemical performance of the hybrid material has been evaluated by the fabrication of symmetric supercapacitors, which exhibits the specific capacitance of 154 F g(-1) at the sweep rate of 2 mV s(-1), signifies that the Co3O4/Carbon composite prepared at 500 degrees C is an excellent candidate for supercapacitor applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.