Preparation of electrospun Co3O4 nanofibers as electrode material for high performance asymmetric supercapacitors

Co3O4 nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning technique and they are characterized by thermogravimetry analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. BET analysis revealed that Co3O4 nanofibers have high specific surface area. Electrochemical properties of the electrospun Co3O4 nanofibers electrode performance are characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements in a 6 M KOH electrolyte using a three-electrode system. The electrospun Co3O4 nanofibers exhibit a specific capacitance of 407 F g (1) at a scan rate of 5 mVs (1). Futhermore, the Co3O4 nanofibers show an excellent cycle stability and better capacity rentation with 94% after 1000 continuous charge-discharge cycles at a constant current density of 1 Ag (1). Moreover, the enhanced supercapacitor performance is mainly due to its unique nanofibers structure provides larger reactive surface area capable of fast ion and electrone transfer. The results are compared with the existing reported systems in the literature. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.