The 9th International Conference on Energy, Resources, Environment and Sustainable Development (ERESD 2022)

Designing electrode materials with special morphology is crucial for further improving the performance of supercapacitors. The carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are fabricated using a blend of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), nano-SiO₂, and a loose medium component (LMC) of coal via electrospinning. And using the CNFs as precursors, two electrode materials with different morphologies were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The structure of electrode materials can be easily controlled by using different additives. Among them, the morphology of PPCNFs@ Ni-Co is similar to the combination of fibers and large petals. And PCNFs@Ni-Co has a unique microstructure, such as small petals evenly distributed on the surface, and the surface of CNFs are wrapped in small flakes. When evaluated as electrodes for supercapacitors, a high specific capacitance of 1400 F g⁻¹ can be obtained at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹. Even as the current density increases to 20 A g⁻¹, the electrode still has a high specific capacitance of 990 F g⁻¹, showing an excellent rate capacity. This result is attributable to the material's dispersed flake structure and the synergistic effect with CNFs, which facilitates the transport of electrolyte ions and electrons. In addition, the compound produced also exhibited higher catalytic activity in CO oxidation by the thermal decomposition of N₂, which also indicates that the material has excellent applications in air purification.

supercapacitors, CO oxidation, carbon nanofibers, Ni-Co, electrospinning, morphologies