SnO2-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Vulcan carbon through a sonochemical approach for supercapacitor applications

Victor Vinoth; Jerry J Wu; Abdullah M Asiri; Teresa Lana-Villarreal; Pedro Bonete; Sambandam Anandan

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2015.09.013

SnO2-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Vulcan carbon through a sonochemical approach for supercapacitor applications

Ultrason Sonochem. 2016 Mar:29:205-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2015.09.013. Epub 2015 Sep 25.

Authors

Victor Vinoth¹, Jerry J Wu², Abdullah M Asiri³, Teresa Lana-Villarreal⁴, Pedro Bonete⁴, Sambandam Anandan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, India.
² Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan. Electronic address: jjwu@fcu.edu.tw.
³ The Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21413, P.O. Box 80203, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Institut Universitari d'Electroquímica i Departament de Química Física, Universitat d'Alacant, Apartat 99, E-03080 Alacant, Spain.
⁵ Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, India; Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan. Electronic address: sanand@nitt.edu.

PMID: 26585000
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2015.09.013

Abstract

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Vulcan carbon (VC) decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using a facile and versatile sonochemical procedure. The as-prepared nanocomposites were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy. It was evidenced that SnO2 nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on both carbon surfaces, tightly decorating the MWCNTs and VC. The electrochemical performance of the nanocomposites was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling. The as-synthesized SnO2/MWCNTs nanocomposites show a higher capacity than the SnO2/VC nanocomposites. Concretely, the SnO2/MWCNTs electrodes exhibit a specific capacitance of 133.33 F g(-1), whereas SnO2/VC electrodes exhibit a specific capacitance of 112.14 F g(-1) measured at 0.5 mA cm(-2) in 1 M Na2SO4.

Keywords: MWCNTs; SnO(2) nanoparticles; Specific capacitance; Supercapacitor; Ultrasound; Vulcan carbon.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't