Three-dimensional porous carbonaceous network with in-situ entrapped metallic cobalt for supercapacitor application

Arjun Prasad Tiwari; Su-Hyeong Chae; Gunendra Prasad Ojha; Bipeen Dahal; Tanka Mukhiya; Minju Lee; Kisan Chhetri; Taewoo Kim; Hak-Yong Kim

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.070

Three-dimensional porous carbonaceous network with in-situ entrapped metallic cobalt for supercapacitor application

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Oct 1:553:622-630. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.070. Epub 2019 Jun 21.

Authors

Arjun Prasad Tiwari¹, Su-Hyeong Chae², Gunendra Prasad Ojha², Bipeen Dahal³, Tanka Mukhiya⁴, Minju Lee², Kisan Chhetri², Taewoo Kim², Hak-Yong Kim⁵

Affiliations

¹ Carbon Nano Convergence Technology Center for Next Generation Engineers (CNN), Chonbuk National University, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea; Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea.
² Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea; Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
⁴ Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea; Department of Chemistry, Bhaktapur Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
⁵ Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea; Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: khy@jbnu.ac.kr.

PMID: 31247501
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.06.070

Abstract

Herein, we outline the fabrication of highly porous three-dimensional carbon-fiber network anchored with uniform metallic cobalt (Co) via electrospinning and subsequent post-modification approaches. First, cobalt acetate solution saturated electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous mat was subjected to sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) solution which results in the fabrication of three dimensional (3D) hierarchical multilayer network. Restructuring of the 2D mat into multilayered sponges with metal particles entrapment is attributed to the in-situ generated hydrogen gas into the interconnected pores of the fibrous network simultaneous with reduction of cobalt salt into metallic cobalt by NaBH₄. The resulting mesh was stabilized and carbonization at inert atmosphere to obtain metallic cobalt (Co) embedded 3D carbon nanofibrous networks (Co@3D-CNFs). Physicochemical characterization and electrochemical analysis were performed. Results show carbon network was found to be expanded with bubbling like structures often embedded metallic Co nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the existence of the metallic cobalt particles on the carbon fiber networks. Furthermore, we establish a resulting composite (Co@3D-CNFs) identify the enhanced electrochemical performance having specific capacitance 762 F g^-1 compared to 173 and 180 F g^-1 for corresponding @3D-CNFs and 2D carbon nanofiber network with cobalt doped (Co@2D-CNFs) counterparts, respectively. The assembled Co2@3D-CNFs//NGH ASC device exhibits a high energy density 24.6 W h Kg^-1 at 797 W kg^-1 power density with an operating voltage of 1.6 V (vs Ag/AgCl). The device further shows good capacitance retention (90.1%) after 5000 cycles. This research shows the simple and cost-effective strategy to make metallic particles embedded 3D porous carbonaceous electrode materials which can have great potential for energy storage application.

Keywords: Carbon nanofibers; Electrospinning; Metallic cobalt; Multilayer; Supercapacitor.