Two dimensional α-MoO3 nanosheets decorated carbon cloth electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract The production of two dimensional (2D) layers, especially nanosheet is of significant importance to develop supercapacitors. Herein, reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method is employed to the 2D α-MoO3 nanosheet preparations on carbon cloth substrate. As-prepared 2D α-MoO3 nanosheet coated carbon cloth has been characterized by XRD, UV–vis, Raman, FE-SEM, EDX techniques. Supercapacitor performance of 2D α-MoO3 nanosheet coated carbon cloth is tested from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge discharge (GCD) techniques in 1.0 M aqueous Na2SO4 electrolyte. 2D α-MoO3 nanosheet coated carbon cloth delivers the specific capacitance 240 F g−1 at current density of 1.5 mA cm−2 with capacity retention of 78.8% for 5000 cycles at 2.5 mA cm−2. Compared to bare carbon cloth and α-MoO3 decorated carbon cloth at room temperature, 2D α-MoO3 nanosheet coated carbon cloth exhibits much higher specific capacity, superior cyclability, and good rate capability, highlighting the advantages of hierarchical nanosheet and high surface area in the MoO3 structure.