A facile route to preparation of Co3O4 nanoplates and investigation of their charge storage ability as electrode material for supercapacitors

A fast, cheap and facile method was developed for the preparation of Co 3 O 4 nanoplates at large-scale. According to this method, initially β-Co(OH) 2 nanoplates were prepared through a simple, template- and additive-free electrodeposition route and then the Co 3 O 4 nanoplates were obtained via the calcination of the hydroxide precursor at 500 °C for 3 h, under an O 2 atmosphere. The products were characterized by XRD, IR, DCS-TG and SEM techniques, and electrochemical investigations by cyclic voltammetry, charge–discharge tests and EIS measurements, which confirmed the excellent supercapacitive performance of the Co 3 O 4 nanoplates including their high contribution and electrochemical utilization in the redox reactions, reversible redox reactions, low diffusion resistance, high specific capacitance of 485 F g −1 , and an 84.1 % capacity retention after 3000 cycling at the applied discharge current density of 5 A g −1 .