A simple one-step method to synthesise CuO films having different morphologies for flexible supercapacitor electrodes

ABSTRACTCopper oxide (CuO) films with a thickness of about 1.5 μm having three different morphologies (nanoplate, nanoflake and nanowire) were synthesised by a simple and fast chemical method. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electrochemical methods were used to analyse the morphology, determine the crystal structure and characterise the electrochemical performance. CuO with a nanowire structure exhibited the best performance. The specific capacitance was as high as 147 F g−1 at a specific current of 0.6 A g−1, while the capacitance remained at 74.4% after 5000 charge/discharge cycles, showing good stability. The simple synthesis described has a low energy consumption and could be used in the fabrication of other metal oxide and flexible hydroxide electrodes.KEYWORDS: Supercapacitorcopper oxide filmsnanostructurenanostructureenergy storageheterogeneous reaction AcknowledgementsThe authors acknowledge the help of Professor Yiwen Tang of Central China Normal University. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Sichuan Provincial Natural Science Foundation under Grant Number 23NSFSC5695.