Ultralayered Co₃O₄ for High-Performance Supercapacitor Applications

Ultralayered Co3O4 structures with high porosity have been synthesized by a facile homogeneous precipitation process under hydrothermal conditions. The superstructures consist of well-arranged micrometer length rectangular 2D flakes with high specific surface area, pore volume, and uniform pore size distribution. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that charge storage occurs in ultralayered Co3O4 due to reversible redox reactions. The charge–discharge study shows that the material is capable of delivering very high specific capacitance of 548 F g–1 at a current density of 8 A g–1 and retains 66% of capacitance at 32 A g–1. The charge–discharge stability measurements show excellent specific capacitance retention capability, ca. 98.5% after 2000 continuous charge–discharge cycles at high current density of 16 A g–1. The exceptional cyclic, structural, and electrochemical stability at higher current rate with ∼100% Coulombic efficiency, and very low ESR value from impedance measurements promise good utility value of ultralayered Co3O4 material in fabricating a wide range of high-performance electrochemical supercapacitors.