Uniformly Embedded Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in Vertically\nAligned Carbon Nanotube Forests as Pseudocapacitor Electrodes for\nEnhanced Energy Storage

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) forests were\ngrown directly on a silicon\nsubstrate using a Fe/Al/Mo stacking layer which functioned as both\nthe catalyst material and subsequently a conductive current collecting\nlayer in pseudocapacitor applications. A vacuum-assisted, in situ\nelectrodeposition process has been used to achieve the three-dimensional\nfunctionalization of CNT forests with inserted nickel nanoparticles\nas pseudocapacitor electrodes. Experimental results have shown the\nmeasured specific capacitance of 1.26 F/cm³, which is 5.7\ntimes higher than pure CNT forest samples, and the oxidized nickel\nnanoparticle/CNT supercapacitor retained 94.2% of its initial capacitance\nafter 10 000 cyclic voltammetry tests.