Preparation of Magnesium Oxide (MgO) Thin Films by Spray Pyrolysis and Its Capacitive Characterizations

Abstract

Magnesium oxide (MgO) electrodes for the supercapacitor applications have been prepared using automatic spray pyrolysis technique. 100 ml of 1 M aqueous Mg(NO3)2.6H2O solution was sprayed at 2 ml/min. on to the stainless steel (SS) substrate heated to 673 K. The prepared electrodes were analyzed structurally by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) technique, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and contact angle measurement, functional group by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and electrochemically by cyclic voltammetric analyses (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the galvanostatic charge discharge (GCD) technique. Different peaks in XRD pattern coincide with the standard database of JCPDS 01-1235 indicating the formation of MgO. The formation of crystalline MgO has further been corroborated by EDX. The formation of MgO was studied the molecular interactions between the metal, oxygen and carbon elements though FTIR analysis. Peaks in the CV curves confirm the redox behavior of the MgO during the CV. The measured specific capacitance (SC) was as high as 202.36 Fg-1. Superb electrochemical stability is observed at 100 mV/s scan rate. Using GCD analyses show different behavior from the normal capacitors. The charging and discharging times were found nearly same for different applied currents. The observed maximum specific capacitance (SC) was 163.55 Fg-1 which is comparable with that obtained by CV.