Preparation of electrospun Co₃O₄ nanofibers as electrode material for high performance asymmetric supercapacitors

Highlights: • Co₃O₄ nanofibers are synthesized by electrospinning technique to use as electrode material for supercapacitors. • Co₃O₄ nanofibers based electrode exhibits a specific capacitance of 407 F g⁻¹ which is much higher than the existing reported other similar systems in the literature. • Its enhanced capacitive behavior is attributed to the porous network structure of Co₃O₄ nanofibers. • Co₃O₄ nanofibers maintained the best specific capacitance retention of 94 % even after 1000 cycles. - ABSTRACT: Co₃O₄ nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning technique and they are characterized by thermogravimetry analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. BET analysis revealed that Co₃O₄ nanofibers have high specific surface area. Electrochemical properties of the electrospun Co₃O₄ nanofibers electrode performance are characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements in a 6 M KOH electrolyte using a three-electrode system. The electrospun Co₃O₄ nanofibers exhibit a specific capacitance of 407 F g⁻¹ at a scan rate of 5 mVs⁻¹. Futhermore, the Co₃O₄ nanofibers show an excellent cycle stability and better capacity rentation with 94% after 1000 continuous charge-discharge cycles at a constant current density of 1 Ag⁻¹. Moreover, the enhanced supercapacitor performance is mainly due to its unique nanofibers structure provides larger reactive surface area capable of fast ion and electrone transfer. The results are compared with the existing reported systems in the literature