Dry Synthesis of Binder-Free Ruthenium Nitride-Coated Carbon Nanotubes as a Flexible Supercapacitor Electrode

Hanie Kazari; Elmira Pajootan; Pascal Hubert; Sylvain Coulombe

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c22276

Dry Synthesis of Binder-Free Ruthenium Nitride-Coated Carbon Nanotubes as a Flexible Supercapacitor Electrode

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 6;14(13):15112-15121. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c22276. Epub 2022 Mar 29.

Authors

Hanie Kazari¹, Elmira Pajootan², Pascal Hubert¹, Sylvain Coulombe²

Affiliations

¹ Structures and Composite Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K7, Canada.
² Catalytic and Plasma Process Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada.

PMID: 35347978
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c22276

Abstract

Ruthenium nitride was successfully deposited on a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) forest grown on a stainless-steel mesh substrate by radiofrequency plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition. This novel dry fabrication method for flexible supercapacitor electrodes eliminates toxic byproducts and the need for any binder component. Experimental results show a successful thin film coating of the individual MWCNTs with RuN_x under various synthesis conditions. The electrochemical characterization demonstrates a significant improvement in capacitance of the synthesized RuN_x-MWCNT electrode compared to the bare MWCNT forest, with a large potential window of 1.2 V. Capacitance values as high as 818.2 F g^-1 (37.9 mF cm^-2) have been achieved.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; flexible electrode; plasma-enhanced laser deposition; ruthenium nitride; supercapacitor electrode.