Int. J. Electrochem. Sci.

, 8 (2013) 8645 - 8661

International Journal of
ELECTROCHEMICAL
SCIENCE
www.electrochemsci.org

Controlled Synthesis of Hierarchical CuO Nanostructures for

Electrochemical Capacitor Electrodes
Yu Xin Zhang1,2,*, Ming Huang1, Fei Li1, Zhong Quan Wen2
1
College of Material Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, P.R. China
2
Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science of Micro/Nano-Devices and System Technology, Chongqing
University, Chongqing, 400044, P.R. China
*
E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 27 April 2013 / Accepted: 10 May 2013 / Published: 1 June 2013

Nanostructured CuO with diverse morphologies has been synthesized via a facile and scaleable wet-
chemical method, accompanied with calcination. As-prepared CuO nanostructures were characterized
using x-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), focus ion
beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and
nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The electrochemical properties of the CuO electrodes were elucidated
by cyclic voltammograms, galvanostatic charge-discharge tests and electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy in aqueous 6 M KOH electrolyte. The electrochemical results demonstrated that the
specific capacitance of the nanostructured CuO strongly depended on their morphologies (nanosheets-
like, bundle-like and flower-like CuO). Remarkably, the as-synthesized CuO nanosheets exhibited a
higher specific capacitance of 88.5 F g-1 at the scan rate of 2 mV s-1. The capacitance retention of CuO
nanosheets was around 90.6 % after 500 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 5 mA cm -2. In
principles, these findings suggested that the low-cost CuO nanostructures could be a promising
candidate for electrochemical capacitor electrode material.

Keywords: CuO; diverse morphology; electrochemical properties; capacitance

1. INTRODUCTION

Electrochemical capacitors also known as supercapacitors, are electrochemical energy storage

devices used as intermediates between conventional dielectric capacitors and batteries [1-3]. In recent
years, supercapacitors have attracted significant research attention as efficient energy storage devices
due to their properties like high power density, excellent reversibility and long cycle life for time-
dependent power needs of modern electronics and power systems [4-7]. Based on the charge storage
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8646

mechanisms, they can be divided into two categories, namely, electric double layer capacitors
(EDLCs) and pseudocapacitors [8, 9]. The capacitance of the former comes from the charge
accumulation at the electrode/electrolyte interface, and the latter’s capacitance is due to the fast
reversible faradaic transitions of electro-active species of the electrode. To date, carbon-related
materials have been widely utilized as building blocks to construct electrodes for EDLCs due to their
good processing ability, large surface area/porosity, good cycle life, and low cost [10-12], but the
devices fabricated suffer from their relative low capacity in storing charge. In contrast, the
electrochemical capacitors can afford a higher energy storage capacity [13-15]. Transition metal oxides
are considered as ideal electrode materials for pseudocapacitors as they can provide a variety of
oxidation states for efficient redox charge transfer. RuO2 and IrO2 of noble metal oxide materials were
used as pseudocapacitive electrode materials with remarkable performance [16-19], however, the high
cost of hydrous ruthenium oxide and iridium oxide hindered their wide application. Hence, more
efforts have been aimed at searching for cheap electrode materials including Fe2O3 [20], MnO2 [21,
22], NiO [23, 24], Co3O4 [25], and CuO [26] for exploring alternative pathways to tailor the
functionalities of electrode materials and construct supercapacitors with enhanced energy and power
densities.
As an important p-type transition-metal oxide with a narrow band gap (Eg=1.2 eV), CuO has
been explored as an electrode material for high-power electrochemical pseudocapacitors due to its
abundant resources, environmental compatibility, cost effectiveness and favorable pseudocapacitive
characteristics. It was found that the morphology and particle size of CuO remarkably affected its
specific capacity. For instance, Patake et al. [27, 28] synthesized the porous amorphous copper oxide
thin films which exhibited a specific capacitance around 40 F g−1 in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. Zhang et
al. [29, 30] showed that CuO with flower-like nanostructures displayed a higher specific capacitance of
133.6 F g−1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte, which is about three-fold higher than commercial CuO powder. Li
et al. [31] found that the CuO nanosheets directly grown onto copper foam exhibited a specific
capacitance as high as to 212 F g-1 at a current density of 0.41 mA mg-1 in 6.0 M KOH electrolyte.
Wang et al. [32] have reported the synthesis of CuO nanosheet arrays directly grown onto nickel foam
with higher specific capacitance of 569 F g-1. As inspired by its novel properties and great potential
applications, nano-sized CuO nanostructures with diverse morphologies have been synthesized via a
variety of methods [33-38]. However, the synthetic procedures for these unique morphology materials
are still relatively complicated and low yield. Thus, the controlled synthesis of CuO nanostructures
with enhanced supercapacitor performance still requires easy operation, low cost, and high yield,
which are favorable from the viewpoint of practical application. To the best of our knowledge, there
were few reports explored the controlled synthesis of CuO nanostructures with diverse morphologies
and investigated the electrochemical performance simultaneously.
In this study, we have prepared porous CuO nanostructures with different morphologies under
a controlled method in the presence of tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) at room temperature.
The morphology, structure and electrochemical properties of the CuO nanostructures were investigated
and the correlation between the morphology and electrochemical performance was examined.
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8647

2. EXPERIMENTAL

2.1 Materials

Copper nitrate (Cu(NO3)2·3H2O), sodium hydrate (NaOH), potassium hydrate (KOH),

ammonia (NH3·H2O), ethanol (C2H5OH), tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB), polyvinylidene
fluoride (PVDF) and solvents used in this work were purchased from Alfa Aesar. The entire chemicals
were of analytical purity and used without any further purification.

2.2 Synthesis of porous CuO nanostructures with diverse morphologies

The CuO nanostructures were prepared with surfactant-assisted wet-chemical method followed
by thermal treatment. Typically, an aqueous solution of Cu(NO3)2·3H2O (20 mL, 0.05 M) was mixed
with TOAB ethanol solution (40 mL, 0.05 M) in a round-bottom flask at room temperature and kept
vigorous stirring for 5 min. Afterwards, different amount (2 mL, 4 mL, 6 mL, 8 mL) of NH3·H2O (25-
28%) was injected quickly. And then aqueous NaOH solution (10 mL, 1.00 M) was dropwisely added
into the mixture and the mixture was kept vigorous stirring for 1.5 h. The resulting dark blue
precipitates were separated, centrifuged, washed with distilled water and ethanol for several times, and
dried at 60 oC in vacuum, giving the intermediate products. Finally, the intermediate products were
calcined at 500 oC in air for 1 h.

2.3 Characterization

The crystallographic information and chemical composition of as-prepared products were

established by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD, D/max 1200, Cu K) , fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FTIR, Nicolet 5DXC), and thermogravimetric analyzer-differential scanning calorimeter
(TGA-DSC, NETZSCH STA 449C). The structural and morphological investigations of the CuO
nanostructures were carried out with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM,
ZEISS LIBRA 200), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM, FEI NOVA 400) and
focused ion beam (ZEISS AURIGA FIB/SEM). Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms were
measured at 77K with micrometritics ASAP 2020 sorptometer. The specific surface area was
calculated with the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation, and the pore size distributions were
calculated from the adsorption curve by the Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) method.

2.4 Electrochemical measurements

The electrochemical measurements including cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-

discharge (GC) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests were performed by using a
CHI 660E electrochemical workstation under ambient conditions. In a typical electrochemical
measurement, a three-electrode cell system was composed of CuO powders electrode as the working
electrode, a platinum plate as the counter electrode, and a saturated calomel electrode as the reference
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8648

electrode. The working electrode was fabricated by mixing the 70 wt% as-prepared CuO with 20 wt%
carbon black (Super P) and 10 wt% polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and then a slurry of above
mixture was painted onto the foamed nickel as a current collector. The coated mesh was dried at 120
o
C in vacuum cabinet overnight to remove the solvent and water.
The capacitive behaviors of the CuO nanostructures were characterized by cyclic voltammetry
(CV) in 6 M KOH electrolyte at room temperature. CV measurements were performed on the three-
electrode cells in the voltage window between 0 and 0.4 V at different scan rates. Galvanostatic
charge-discharge experiments were performed with different current densities to reflect the rate ability.
EIS measurements were carried out by applying an AC voltage with 5 mV amplitude in a frequency
range from 0.01 Hz to 100 kHz at the open potential.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Structure and morphology

Fig. 1 presents the composition and crystallite phase purity of the as-prepared Cu(OH)2
precursor nanostructures. Diffraction peaks were observed of 16.6 o, 23.8 o, 34.1 o, 39.8 o and 53.2 o,
and could be assigned to the (020), (021), (002), (130) and (150) planes of orthorhombic Cu(OH)2
(JCPDS card no. 13-0420, a = 2.949 Å, b = 10.59 Å, c =5.256 Å), which confirmed a high degree of
crystallinity, similar to the previous literature [39].

Figure 1. XRD patterns of different Cu(OH)2 nanocrystallines obtained in presence of TOAB,

NH3·H2O and NaOH at room temperature for varied amount of NH3·H2O: a) 2 mL; b) 4 mL; c)
8 mL.
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8649

And the XRD patterns of the sample prepared with 6 mL of NH3·H2O is the same as the above
(See Supplementary Information, SI-1). The dominant peaks located at 2θ values between 10° and 80°
clearly indicated that the intermediate Cu(OH)2 product was a pure phase, while no characteristic
peaks of impurities such as CuO and Cu2O were detected.

Figure 2. Morphology of mesoporous Cu(OH)2 precursor nanocrystallines obtained in presence of

TOAB, NH3·H2O and NaOH at room temperature for varied amount of NH3·H2O with
different magnification: a, b) 2 mL; c, d) 4 mL; e ,f) 8 mL.

The morphologies of the as-prepared Cu(OH)2 nanostructures are presented with SEM images
in Fig. 2. Fig. 2a and b show the Cu(OH)2 nanostructures synthesized in the presence of NH3·H2O (2
mL). It revealed that the as-prepared Cu(OH)2 precursor had a sheet-like structure of 300 nm in length
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8650

and 60 nm in width. When the amount of NH3·H2O was 4 mL, bundle-like CuO was obtained. Fig. 2c
and d showed that the bundle-like CuO was self-assembled by small nanosheets. Observations at high
magnification in Fig. 2d revealed that the width and length of the bundle-like CuO were about 600 nm
and 4 μm, respectively. As the amount of NH3·H2O was 6 mL, some incomplete flower-like could be
obtained (See Supplementary Information, SI-2). Remarkably, when the addition of NH3·H2O was 8
mL, we found that the Cu(OH)2 exhibited a uniform flower-like structure of 3-5 μm in diameter. As
shown in Fig. 2e and f, the flower-like CuO were also self-assembled by some small nanosheets (100
nm in width, 1-2 μm in length). These results indicated that the dosage of ammonia would greatly
affect the morphology, aggregation, size and shape of the building blocks, which was due to the fact
that the concentration of NH3·H2O was considered to significantly affect the nucleation and growth
behaviors (such as the number of nuclei and the concentration of growth units) of the nanocrystals.

Figure 3. (a) XRD pattern of flower-like CuO gained by annealing Cu(OH)2 precursor (Fig. 2e, f) at
500 oC for 1h; (b, c) detailed SEM images of the as-prepared flower-like CuO nanostructures;
(d) a detailed view on an individual flower-like CuO . Note that the Cu(OH)2 precursor was
obtained with 8 mL NH3·H2O in presence of TOAB and NaOH at room temperature with
continuous stirring for 1.5 h.

Fig. 3 shows the structure of the flower-like CuO was further investigated by annealing
Cu(OH)2 precursor at 500 oC for 1 h. As shown in Fig. 3a, the XRD pattern shows the appearance of
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8651

reflections attributed to the monoclinic CuO (JCPDS card no. 45-0937, a = 4.685 Å, b = 3.426 Å, c
=5.13 Å and β = 99.55o), similar to the previous reports [39]. Except for these CuO peaks, no other
peaks were observed, indicating the high purity of as-obtained CuO products. Fig.3b and c show the
detailed images of the as-prepared flower-like CuO nanostructures, which again indicated that the
flower-like structure was composed of small nanoplates. The high magnification image on an
individual flower-like CuO nanostructure is shown in Fig. 3d. The unique feature of this morphology
was that each nanosheet in the flower-like structure would have its own electrical contact with the
current collector, which may result in better charge transfer kinetics, leading to an enhancive
electrochemical capacity.

Figure 4. (a, b) TEM images of the as-prepared flower-like CuO (Fig. 3) gained by annealing Cu(OH)2
precursor (Fig. 2e, f) at 500 oC for 1h; (c) HRTEM images (the boxed region in (b)) of the
terminal part of the individual CuO nanosheet. Note that the Cu(OH)2 precursor was obtained
with 8 mL NH3·H2O in presence of TOAB and NaOH at room temperature with continuous
stirring for 1.5 h.

Fig. 4 presents transmission electron micrographs of the as-prepared flower-like CuO

nanostructures (more TEM images were shown in Supplementary Information, SI-3). Detailedly, it can
be observed that the flower-like CuO structures were uniform and monodispersed in Fig. 4a.
Meanwhile, a higher magnification TEM image of the terminal part of the individual flower-like CuO
was shown in Fig. 4b. Fig. 4c shows the HRTEM image of the boxed region in Fig. 4b. It shows the
terminal part of the individual CuO nanosheet with the clear lattice fringes, as an indicative of the high
crystallinity of the nanostructure skeleton. The interplanar distance of 2.76 Å can be ascribed to the (-
110) plane of monoclinic CuO, while the interplanar distance of 2.56 Å and 1.87 Å can be ascribed to
the (002) and (-202) plane, which was well consistent with the XRD results.
On the basis of the above experimental results, the plausible formation mechanism of CuO
nanostructures was proposed. TOAB and NH3·H2O were added to the aqueous solution of Cu2+ ions
sequentially, forming a homogeneous deep blue [Cu(NH3)n]2+ solution, where TOAB molecules were
homogeneously dispersed. Upon adding aqueous NaOH solution, OH- replaced NH3 in the
[Cu(NH3)n]2+ complex to form square-planar [Cu(OH)4]2- units, resulting in the formation of
orthorhombic Cu(OH)2 nanosheets [40]. Clearly, due to the different addition of NH3·H2O, separate
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8652

Cu(OH)2 nanoplates formed and eventually self-assembled to give the varied Cu(OH)2 nanostructures,
and the similar morphology of CuO nanostructures could be obtained by thermal dehydration of the as-
prepared Cu(OH)2 precursors. Our previous work has demonstrated that the TOAB may act as a
growth-directing agent which could modulate the kinetic growth [41].

3.2 FT-IR and thermal properties

Figure 5. FT-IR spectra (a) and TGA-DSC curve (b) of the as-prepared Cu(OH)2 precursor obtained
with 8 mL NH3·H2O in presence of TOAB and NaOH at room temperature with continuous
stirring for 1.5 h.

The FTIR spectrum was used to investigate the surface properties of the Cu(OH)2 precursor
nanostructures (Fig. 5). As shown in Fig. 5a, the absorption peaks in the infrared spectrum of Cu(OH)2
at low frequencies below 700 cm-1 are due to Cu-O vibrations, while bands centered at 3572, 3315 cm-
1
correspond to the hydroxyl ions [42, 43]. The broad band centered at 3426 and 1632 cm-1 were
attributed to the O-H stretching and bending modes of water [44, 45]. The weak bands around 1384
cm-1 corresponded to the C-H vibration and the absorption peak at 1116 cm-1 can be assigned to C-O
vibration coordinating to metal cations, indicating few surfactants absorbed on the surface of Cu(OH)2
samples.
To further confirm the possible coordination of TOAB with Cu(OH)2 nanostructures, the
simultaneous DSC and TGA analysis of flower-like Cu(OH)2 were performed from room temperature
to 700 °C in air (Fig. 5b). The first weight loss of 1.8 % between 30 oC and 150 oC resulted from the
removal of physically absorbed water and chemically bound water. The temperature range from 150 to
180 °C and this particular weight loss (16.4%) may be ascribed to the loss of the decomposition of
Cu(OH)2 to give CuO. The sharp endothermic DSC peak around 170 °C was consistent with the
decomposition of Cu(OH)2 in as-prepared products, this feature was in good agreement with the
previous TGA results of Cu(OH)2 [46]. Within temperature interval from 180 to 260 °C, this particular
weight loss (3.6%) may be ascribed to the loss of the decomposition of few residual surfactants.
Furthermore, the as-prepared Cu(OH)2 nanosheets with 2 mL NH3·H2O was also investigated, and its
DSC and TGA results was presented in supplementary information (SI-4). As no significant weight
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8653

loss has been observed beyond 400 oC in the sample, this result indicated that 400 oC could be
considered as an appropriate calcination temperature.

3.3. Surface area and porosity analysis

Figure 6. N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and corresponding pore size distribution of the as-
prepared CuO nanocrystallines obtained by annealing Cu(OH)2 precursor at 500 oC for 1 h with
different amount of NH3·H2O : a) 2 mL NH3·H2O; b) 4 mL NH3·H2O; c) 8 mL NH3·H2O.

To examine surface properties of the as-prepared varied CuO nanostructures, Brunnauer-

Emmett-Teller (BET) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement were performed. The
corresponding nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm and pore size distribution curve (inset) of the
CuO are shown in Fig. 6. The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm of the as-synthesized CuO
nanostructures reflected a typical IV sorption behavior with the profile of a hysteresis loop in the high
relative pressure (P/P0) range between 0.7 and 1.0, indicating that the composite had a typical
mesoporous structure. As shown in Fig. 6, the BET surface areas of the CuO nanosheet (obtained with
2 mL NH3·H2O in Fig. 6a), bundle-like CuO (obtained with 4 mL NH3·H2O in Fig. 6b), and flower-
like CuO (obtained with 8 mL NH3·H2O in Fig. 6c) are 45.1, 14.1, and 6.3 m2 g-1, respectively. From
the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore diameter distribution curve (inset in Fig. 6), the CuO
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8654

nanostructures exhibited the abundance of mesopores between 2 and 50 nm. And thus it can infer that
the characteristic broad pore size distribution of the samples is an amalgamation of internal space of
the agglomerated flakes, surface porosity of the flakes, and the porosity due to internal space of
different morphology structures [47]. Such type of hierarchical surface morphologies with well
developed pore structures were advantageous for enhancive electrochemical capacitors applications
since large pore channels permitted rapid electrolyte transport, while the small pores provided more
active sites for chemical reactions [48].

3.4 Electrochemical properties of the mesoporous CuO nanostructures

To evaluate the potential applications in electrochemical capacitors, the hierarchical porous

CuO samples with different morphologies were used to make supercapacitor electrodes, and
characterized with cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge and impedance measurements
in Fig. 7. As shown in Fig. 7a, c and e, CV curves of the CuO electrodes with different morphologies
measured in a large scan rate range from 5 to 50 mV s-1 in the potential range 0-0.4 V vs. SCE. The
CV profiles for all the three samples were very similar and quite different from the ideal rectangular
shape for double layer capacitance, which suggested that the capacitance of CuO primarily originated
from Faradic redox reactions. The different mass specific current densities indicated that the three
samples had different specific capacitance. In the potential range of 0-0.4V, the following reactions
between Cu(I) and Cu(II) species (Eqs.(1)-(4)) have been proposed [31, 49-53].
1/2Cu2O + OH− → CuO + 1/2 H2O + e− (1)
− −
1/2Cu2O + 1/2H2O + OH → Cu(OH)2 +e (2)
− −
CuOH + OH → CuO + H2O + e (3)
− −
CuOH + OH → Cu(OH)2 +e (4)
The broad anodic peak can be attributed to the oxidation of Cu2O and/or CuOH to both CuO
and/or Cu(OH)2. The broad cathodic peak can be ascribed to the reduction of CuO and/or Cu(OH)2 to
Cu2O and/or CuOH. The broad peak feature could be results of the overlap of the redox peaks given in
Eqs.(1)–(4). Clearly, it can be seen that the shapes of CV curves have no change and the redox-peak
position is nearly consistent at different sweep rates, exhibiting stable electrochemical property and
higher reversibility of the CuO nanostructures. In order to identify which architecture is favorable for
high-rate capacitive energy storage, the specific capacitance values of the three samples have been
determined by CV curves. The specific capacitance of the CuO electrode can be calculated from the
CV curves according to the following equation
i
Cm = (5)
mv
where m is the mass of electroactive material CuO, v is the potential sweep rate, and i is the
V
even current response defined by i=V i(V )dV /(Vc -Va ) (Va and Vc represent the lowest and highest
c

voltages, respectively) and obtained through integrating the area of the curves in Fig. 7a, c and e. The
specific capacitance of CuO nanosheet, bundle-like CuO and flower-like CuO calculated from CV
curves at the scan rate of 2 mV s-1 were 88.5, 49.2, and 68 F g-1, respectively.
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8655

Figure 7. Cyclic voltammograms of CuO nanostructures with different morphologies at different scan
rate (2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 mV s-1) (a, c and e) in a 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte; Corresponding
charge-discharge curves of CuO electrodes (b, d and f) at different current densities (2, 5, 8 and
10 mA cm-2). Note that the CuO nanocrystallines obtained by annealing Cu(OH)2 precursor at
500 oC for 1 h with different amount of NH3·H2O : a, b) 2 mL NH3·H2O; c, d) 4 mL NH3·H2O;
e, f) 8 mL NH3·H2O.

Additionally, galvanostatic constant current charge-discharge curves at various current

densities were performed with an electrochemical window of 0-0.4 V to further examine the
electrochemical performance of the CuO nanostructures with different morphologies. As shown in Fig.
7b, d, and f, the charge curves are almost linear and somewhat mirror symmetrical to their discharge
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8656

counterparts, suggestive of good electrochemical performance for the three mesoporous CuO samples.
The specific capacitance of the mesoporous CuO can be calculated from the GC curves using the
following equation
I t
Cm = (6)
Vm
where I , △t , △V , and m denote current density, discharge time, potential range in discharge
after the IR drop, and the active weight of the electrode material, respectively. The specific capacitance
values of the CuO nanosheets, bundle-like CuO and flower-like CuO electrodes at current density of 2
mA cm-2 were 85.7, 46.2, and 64.6 F g-1, in good agreement with the CV results. According to the
comparison of the specific capacitance among three CuO samples, it can be seen that CuO nanosheet
electrode was higher than that of both bundle-like CuO and flower-like CuO. The bundle-like CuO
exhibited the lowest specific capacitance, which was only about half of that of CuO nanosheets. This
significant difference in the specific capacitance of CuO can be attributed to its difference in
morphology. The morphology may affect the specific capacitance of CuO in three aspects: the
electrical resistance, the electrolyte diffusion within CuO nanostructures and the specific surface area
of CuO [29]. The bundle-like and flower-like CuO are longer and thus have larger electrical resistance
than CuO nanosheet. Furthermore, the bundle-like and flower-like CuO structures were agglomerates
of nanosheets and thus the electrolyte diffusion was more difficult than the individual nanosheet. The
increasing order of the specific capacitance (bundle-like CuO < flower-like CuO < CuO nanosheet)
was consistent with increasing sequence of CuO specific surface area, indicating that the highly
mesoporous structure and high specific surface area of the electrode facilitates the ions to transfer into
the porous structure more easily which would lead to more redox faradic reactions and surface
adsorption of electrolyte cations.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been applied at open circuit potential to
investigate electrical conductivity and ion transfer of the supercapacitor test cell, and the Nyquist plots
of the three CuO electrodes were shown in Fig. 8. The Nyquist plots for the three electrodes consisted
of approximately a semicircle at high frequency and a linear region at low frequency. The equivalent
circuit for the Nyquist plots is shown as an inset in Fig. 8. In this equivalent circuit, the symbols Rs, Rct,
Cd, and Zw denoted the solution resistance, charge-transfer resistance, capacitance of the double layer,
and Warburg impedance, respectively [54]. The intercept on real axis at high frequency reflected the
equivalent series resistance (ESR), which was related to the electrolyte resistance, intrinsic electrical
resistance of grains, and the contact resistances of grain-to-grain and grain-to-current collector [55].
The ESR values of CuO electrodes with nanosheet-like, bundle-like, and flower-like morphologies are
0.5, 0.95, and 0.65 Ω, respectively. The charge-transfer resistance (Rct) can be estimated from the
diameters of semicircles on real axis. It can be seen that the charge-transfer resistance decreased in the
order of bundle-like CuO > flower-like CuO > CuO nanosheet. This order was consistent with the
decrease of specific capacitance of the three electrodes. The low frequency region consisted of two
straight lines: the one with smaller slope can be ascribed to Warburg impedance related to the diffusion
of electrolyte within the CuO structures; the one with larger slope demonstrated the capacitance nature
of the electrode (vertical line for an ideal capacitor). All the above impedance results explained the
best pseudocapacitor performance of the CuO nanosheet electrode.
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8657

Figure 8. The electrochemical impedance spectrum of the CuO electrodes with different morphologies
in 6.0 M KOH at open circuit potential in the frequency range from 0.01 Hz to 100 kHz.

Figure 9. (a) Specific capacitance of CuO nanostructures measured under different scan rates; (b)
cycling performance for different CuO electrodes at a current density of 5 mA cm -2 in 6 M
KOH.

The dependence of the specific capacitance on the scan rates and the cycling performance of
three samples are shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 9a, it can be seen that the capacitances of the CuO
nanostructures decreased slightly with increasing scan rates from 2 to 50 mV cm-1. The capacitance
retentions were calculated to be 45.4 %, 28.1 %, and 23.0 % for CuO nanosheet, flower-like CuO, and
bundle-like CuO, respectively. The decrease of the specific capacitance may be caused by the internal
resistance of the electrode. At lower current densities, ions could penetrate into the inner-structure of
electrode material, having access to almost all available pores of the electrode, but at higher current
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8658

densities, an effective utilization of the material was limited only to the outer surface of electrodes.
The good rate capability of CuO nanosheet may be attributed to the unique mesoporous
microstructures and its high specific surface area.
The working stability of energy storage devices was also crucial for their practical applications,
and thus we further performed the charge-discharge cycling test to examine the cycling ability of the
electrodes made with the CuO nanostructures. Fig. 9b indicates the long-term electrochemical stability
of the synthesized CuO electrodes (bundle-like CuO, flower-like CuO, and CuO nanosheet) in 6 M
KOH electrolyte by charge-discharge cycling at current density of 5 mA cm-2 for consecutive 500
cycles. A slight increase in the capacitances was observed during the first 50 cycles for the CuO
nanosheet electrodes which was attributed to the activation process [56] allowing the trapped cations in
the CuO crystal lattice to gradually diffuse out. Such increase in the capacitance during cycling test
was not detectable for the flower-like CuO and bundle-like CuO. This was possibly due to the decrease
in capacitance as the electrodes degraded during the cycling charge/discharge processes, which
obscured the activation effect [57]. As can be seen that after 500 cycles, the electrodes made by CuO
nanosheet, flower-like CuO, and bundle-like CuO can retain approximately 90.6, 76.0, and 63.5 % of
their initial value processes, respectively. The excellent performances in cycling stability of the CuO
nanosheet electrodes could be attributed to the high structure stability, large surface area and nano-
sized pores for short path lengths of ion diffusion and electron transport. These results indicated that
the mesoporous CuO nanosheet could be a promising candidate to be used as the electrode material of
electrochemical capacitor.

4. CONCLUSIONS

In summary, nanosheet-like, bundle-like and flower-like CuO nanostructures were successfully

prepared by a simple wet-chemical method combined with subsequent calcination process. Based on
tests of these porous CuO nanostructures as pseudocapacitor electrode materials, it was found that the
morphology of the CuO nanostructure can influence the electrochemical properties significantly. The
CuO nanosheets exhibited a higher utilization efficiency and better property for electrolyte diffusion
than the bundle-like and flower-like nanostructures. The obtained CuO nanosheets electrodes exhibited
a moderate specific capacitance and stable cycling performance for supercapacitors. Considering low
cost, abundant resources, simplicity of the preparative method and their improved electrochemical
properties, CuO nanostructures could be considered as promising electrode materials for
electrochemical capacitors.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports provided by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant no. 51104194), Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China
(20110191120014), No. 43 Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese
Scholars, State Education Ministry and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(Project no. CDJZR12248801 and CDJZR12135501, Chongqing University, PR China).
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8659

Supplementary information:

SI-1. XRD patterns of Cu(OH)2 precursor nanocrystallines obtained in presence of TOAB and NaOH
at room temperature with 6 mL NH3·H2O.

JCPDS card no. 13-0420

SI-2. Morphology of Cu(OH)2 precursor nanocrystallines prepared with 6 mL NH3·H2O at room

temperature with different magnification.

a) b)

1 μm 300
nm

SI-3. TEM (a) and HRTEM (b) images of the flower-like CuO prepared with 8 mL NH3·H2O in
presence of TOAB and NaOH at room temperature with continuous stirring for 1.5 h.

a) b)
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., Vol. 8, 2013 8660

SI-4. TGA-DSC curves of the as-prepared Cu(OH)2 precursor obtained with 2 mL NH3·H2O in
presence of TOAB and NaOH at room temperature.

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