A team of scientists from the Functional Materials Laboratory, led by Professor Husam Alshareef, has developed high-capacity supercapacitors with electrodes based on a network of self-organizing cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanowires grown over carbon-coated current collectors.
The self-organization process of the mesoporous cobalt oxide nanowires was manipulated such that each nanowire made direct contact with the current collector. In a paper accepted for publication in the ACS journal Nano Letters, the team attributed the much-improved specific capacity, rate capability, energy density, and cycling stability to cobalt oxide nanowires organized in a way that improves electron/ion transport and enhances the kinetics of redox reactions.
The fabricated devices achieved record energy density. “This electrode design we have developed is suited for other electrochemical energy storage devices such as Li-ion batteries,” said Professor Alshareef.