Engineering of Micro-mesoporous two-dimensional CeO2-based heterojunction oxides for energy storage applications

With growing demands on energy supply and storage, there is a need for advanced devices that can meet the high power and energy requirements. One such device is a supercapacitor, which is classified into two types, namely the electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) and the pseudocapacitor. Pseudocapacitors show energy storage properties that are between EDLCs and batteries and generally, transition metal oxides are used for these applications. Recent work has demonstrated that CeO2 is a potential material for such applications owing to its reversible charge-switching capabilities and good stability in different environments. In the present work, novel ultrathin nanosheets of CeO2-x and a composite of ruthenium (Ru)-CeO2-x, with the Ru in the form of mixed heteroatoms and dopants were synthesised using a Ce-based coordination polymer (Ce-CP) as the precursor using modified anodic chronoamperometric electrodeposition (MACE) technique. The ready exfoliation of Ce-CP in triethanolamine, which was the exfoliation medium, followed by solvent removal and annealing at 300°C resulted in the formation of ultrathin 2D CeO2 nanosheets that are partially stacked, resulting in the formation of flower-like 3D nanostructures. The ultrathin 2D CeO2 formed 3D flower-like nanostructures with high concentrations of defects, active sites, and mesopores, which increased with the concentration of Ru in the CeO2-x nanostructure. Additionally, the surface area of the Ru-CeO2-x samples was higher, increasing to 354 m2·g−1 compared to the value of 146 m2·g−1 for pristine CeO2-x. The cyclic voltammetry analysis revealed that the introduction of Ru increased the capacitance of pristine CeO2-x from 665 F·g−1 to 923 F·g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV·s−1. These findings suggest that Ru-CeO2-x nanosheets have potential for use in supercapacitor applications.