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Facile and Controllable One‐Pot Synthesis of Hierarchical Co 9 S 8 Hollow Microspheres as High‐Performance Electroactive Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion
Author(s) -
Lin TsungWu,
Tsai HongChi,
Chen TingYu,
Shao Li–Dong
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201700886
Subject(s) - nanosheet , supercapacitor , materials science , capacitance , tafel equation , chemical engineering , composite number , electrochemistry , electrode , coating , microsphere , nanotechnology , hydrothermal synthesis , hydrothermal circulation , cathode , composite material , chemistry , engineering
Hierarchical Co 9 S 8 hollow microspheres with nanosheet building units are synthesized via a one‐step hydrothermal method. The presence of glucose in the synthesis is essential to the formation of the hollow structure and influences the size and morphology of the microspheres. Benefiting from the advantages of a hollow architecture, a conductive carbon coating and Co 9 S 8 nanosheet units, the composite exhibits outstanding electrochemical properties. When the composite electrode is evaluated as the cathode material for supercapacitors, it exhibits a high specific capacitance of 514 F g −1 at 1.0 A g −1 and a capacitance retention of circa 88 % over 1000 cycles at 8 A g −1 . On the other hand, the nanosheet‐constructed hollow structure can efficiently promote the electrocatalytic activity of Co 9 S 8 toward the oxygen evolution reaction. Due to the fact that Co 9 S 8 nanosheets impart largely exposed active sites, the composite exhibits a low Tafel slope of 66 mV dec −1 and no obvious degradation after 12 h water oxidation.