Vanadium Oxide Nanotube Spherical Clusters Prepared on Carbon Fabrics for Energy Storage Applications

Abstract

Vanadium oxide nanotubes have shown great promise as electrode materials for energy storage devices. In this study, we report the synthesis of V(2)O(5) nanotube (VNT) clusters, which form densely packed radial arrangements of VNTs on high-surface-area carbon fiber fabrics (CF). This was achieved by coating the CF with V(2)O(5) by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Hydrothermal treatment of the PLD films in the presence of excess intercalated V(2)O(5) results in formation of well-adhered VNT clusters on the CF. The densely packed VNTs have inner and outer diameters and interlayer distances of ~24, ~70, and ~2.4 nm, respectively. Coin cell type supercapacitors (CR2032) were assembled using VNT-CF as the anode material and electrochemical properties were evaluated.