title: Mesoporous transition metal oxides quasi-nanospheres with enhanced electrochemical properties for supercapacitor applications.
abstract: In this report, we obtain mesoporous transition metal oxides quasi-nanospheres (includes MnO2, NiO, and Co3O4) by utilizing mesoporous silica nanospheres as a template for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. All samples have a large specific surface area of approximately 254-325m(2)g(-1) and a relatively narrow pore size distribution in the region of 7nm. Utilization of a nanosized template resulted in a product with a relative uniform morphology and a small particle diameter in the region of 50-100nm. As supercapacitor electrodes, MnO2, NiO, and Co3O4 exhibit an outstanding capacity as high as 838-1185Fg(-1) at 0.5Ag(-1) and a superior long-term stability with minimal loss of 3-7% after 6000 cycles at 1Ag(-1). Their excellent electrochemical performances are attributed to favorable morphologies with a large surface area and a uniform architecture with abundant pores. The associated enhancement of electrolyte ion circulation within the electrode facilitates a significant increase in availability of Faradic reaction electroactive sites.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, PR China; Key Laboratory of Education Ministry Functional for Molecular Solids, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, PR China. Electronic address: wl8909@ahnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, PR China. Electronic address: 506811435@qq.com.
authors.forename: Guorong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, PR China. Electronic address: zhujw@mail.njust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Junwu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: smchen@ntut.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shen-Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, PR China. Electronic address: xhliu@njust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiao-Heng
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Selvakumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palanisamy
keywords: Co(3)O(4); Excellent supercapacitor performance; High surface area; Mesoporous structure; MnO(2); NiO; Quasi-nanospheres