Construction of 3D CrN@nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheet arrays by reactive magnetron sputtering for the free-standing electrode of supercapacitor

• Published in: Nanotechnology Vol. 33; no. 5; pp. 55402 - 55409
• Main Authors: Xu, Xun, Chang, Songyang, Hong, Zhuozheng, Zeng, Ye, Zhang, Hao, Li, Ping, Zheng, Shizheng, Wang, Zhoucheng, Duo, Shuwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 29.01.2022
• Subjects: magnetron sputtering; metal–organic frameworks; nanosheet arrays; symmetric supercapacitor; transition metal nitride
• ISSN: 0957-4484; 1361-6528
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac3356

Abstract Owing to their favorable chemical stabilities and electronic conductivities, transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have been targeted as the potential electrode materials for the supercapacitors. Herein, 3D CrN@nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheet arrays (NCs) were successfully deposited on carbon paper (CP) by reactive magnetron sputtering method. The CrN@NCs@CP electrode exhibited satisfactory electrochemical properties: initially, the electrode showed a 132.1 mF cm −2 specific capacitance at 1.0 mA cm −2 current density; subsequently, the electrode demonstrated a 95.9% capacitance retention after 20 000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles at 5.0 mA cm −2 current density. The specific capacitance of the CrN@NCs@CP electrode was significantly higher than that of the CrN@CP electrode (4.1 mF cm −2 at 1.0 mA cm −2 ). Furthermore, the symmetric supercapacitor that incorporated two CrN@NCs@CP electrodes demonstrated 5.28 μ Wh cm −2 (2.7 Wh kg −1 ) energy density at 0.41 mW cm −2 power density. These findings exemplify the suitability of the 3D composite electrodes of TMNs for energy storage application.