Controllable preparation of flowered Cu-doped Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel and its application in electrode materials for supercapacitors
摘要
The design of high-performance electrode materials is a hot topic in supercapacitor research. A novel series of flowered Cu-doped Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel prepared by a simple hydrothermal method is used as the high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials. The morphology and the structure of Cu-doped Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel are characterized and analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicate that Cu2+ ions successfully replace Zn2+ ions into the crystal lattices of Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel and keep a similar flowered morphology with ZnMn2O4. However, the incorporation of Cu2+ ions in the spinel crystal lattices leads to little microstructure change in samples. Flowered ZnMn2O4 is self-assembled from fluffy-tipped micron rods. Flowered Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel is self-assembled from smooth diamond-shaped nanostructures. The possible morphology formation mechanism of the flowered ZnMn2O4 might be the micelle formation of the structure-directing agent of sodium citrate in solution. Introducing Cu2+ ions into the spinel crystal lattices effectively contributes to the improvement of the capacitance and the cyclability of Cu-doped Zn1-xCuxMn2O4 spinel. Among them, Zn0.7Cu0.3Mn2O4 shows the highest specific capacitance with 281 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g and better cyclic performance with a capacitance retention rate of 77.4% after 1000 cycles.