Synthesis of Co3O4/CoOOH via electrochemical dispersion using a pulse alternating current method for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors

We report a convenient, low-cost and ecofriendly approach for the fabrication of a Co3O4/CoOOH electrode material intended for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors (SCs) using the electrochemical dispersion of the cobalt foil through the pulse alternating current (PAC) method. The synthesized material is a Co3O4/CoOOH composite (with about 10–15 wt% CoOOH) in the form of nanosheets with a length of approximately 200 nm and a thickness of 10–20 nm. It is found to exhibit high reversible discharge specific capacities and good cycling behavior while tested as the anode material in LIBs. Measuring the reversible capacitance at high (2C) and low (C/20) cycling rates gives the values of 610 mAh g−1 and 1030 mAh g−1, respectively. The specimen possesses excellent performance as the electrode for SCs with the retention of capacitance up to 98% at the current density increasing from 0.5 to 10 A g−1. After 1000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1 the electrode maintains about 90% of its initial capacitance which evidences the long cycle life. Hence, electrochemically prepared Co3O4/CoOOH seems to be a promising candidate for high-performance LIBs and SCs applications.