Synthesis and electrochemical properties of nanoporous CrN thin film electrodes for supercapacitor applications

Materials & Design

Xueli Huang¹  Zhixin Wan²  Haiqing Li³  Teng Fei Zhang³  Qimin Wang³  Paul Heinz Mayrhofer³  Zecui Gao³  Zhengtao Wu⁴ 

[1] Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China;Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Technische Universität Wien, Getreidemarkt 9, 1060 Vienna, Austria;School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China;;School of Materials Science &

关键词: PVD thin film;    Nanoporous supercapacitor;    Specific capacitance;    porous CrN;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Transition metal nitrides (TMN) have received widespread consideration as supercapacitor materials for a variety of energy storage applications. An important requirement to such electrode materials is a very high specific surface area, which is typically obtained through a percolating pore-network. Here, we use arc ion plating to prepare CrN-Ni composite coatings with 0, 30.4, 54.2, and 77.6 at.% Ni. Detailed X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the coatings consist of CrN phases next to metallic Ni. Post-deposition treatments with HCl solutions lead to selective leaching, causing a porous nanostructure for the Ni-containing CrN coatings. From there, the coating with 54.2 at.% Ni in its as-deposited state provided the highest (electrode-geometric-area)-specific capacitance after the HCl treatment, giving 58.5 mF·cm−2 at 1.0 mA·cm−2 in a 0.5 M H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. This value is about 80 times higher than for the as-deposited coatings or the Ni-free CrN. Consequently, our strategy to combine TMNs with metallic Ni and its subsequent treatment with HCl is highly effective in enlarging the specific surface area and adsorption sites. It allows to significantly enhance the energy storage performance of TMN thin film supercapacitors.

【 授权许可】

Unknown