In situ growth of Cu2O/CuO nanosheets on cu coating carbon cloths as a binder-free electrode for asymmetric supercapacitors

Abstract

Cu2O/CuO nanosheets in-situ grown on Cu-Carbon cloths (Cu-CCs), namely Cu2O/CuO@Cu-CCs, are constructed by a simple strategy with electroless copper plating, chemical etching, and thermal dehydration. The as-prepared material is directly used as binder-free electrodes for supercapacitors (SCs). CCs coated with Cu, as the current collector, can effectively promote the charge collection and electron transfer, while the hierarchical Cu2O/CuO nanosheets provide massive active sites for fast faradic reactions. The composite electrode exhibits high specific capacitance [1.71 F cm-2, equivalent to 835.2 F g-1, at the current density of 10 mA cm-2 (3.57 A g-1)]. The asymmetric supercapacitor device using Cu2O/CuO@Cu-CCs as the positive electrode and activated carbon as the negative electrode, achieves a superior energy density up to 60.26 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 299.73 W kg-1 and an excellent long-term cycling stability (9.65% loss of its initial capacitance after 5,000 cycles). The excellent electrochemical performance is mainly ascribed to the unique hierarchical structure of Cu2O/CuO@Cu-CCs, making it attractive as a potential electrode material for high performance SCs.