Synthesis of Mesoporous NiFe2O4 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Supercapacitive Performance

Abstract

In this study a simple one step hydrothermal method has been utilized to synthesize mesoporous NiFe2O4 nanoparticles. The prepared NiFe2O4 (NFO) is highly crystalline and possesses homogenously distributed mesopore. The structural analysis, thermal stability and morphological studies of mesoporous NFO nanoparticles are performed using XRD, TGA, TEM, FE-SEM and surface area analyzer. The supercapacitive behavior of synthesized nanomaterial is investigated in a three-electrode configuration cell with 2 M KOH electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The mesoporous crystalline NFO nanoparticles (diameter 10-15 nm) intuitively possess interesting structural advantages, such as high surface area (148 m2.g-1), fast electron and ion transport. As a result, it exhibits very good specific capacitance (1040 F.g-1 at 1 A.g-1) and good cycling stability (~70 % up to 500 cycles at 2 A.g-1) when examined as electrode material for high performance electrochemical supercapacitor applications.