Fabrication and investigation of ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/NF as supercapacitor electrode by using a novel preparation method of CNT

This work used facile and novel methods to synthesize and fabricate ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/NF as a supercapacitor electrode. The synthesis of active material and fabrication of electrodes performed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and Hydrothermal method. The carbon nanotube (CNT) was modified under the influence of nitrogen molecules in hot conditions using the CVD method. Through this method, the nitrogen molecules from the ammonia solution were deposited on CNT using a bubbler and maintained in the CVD apparatus under 700 °C heat conditions. To synthesize the active material, the modified CNT was decorated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles and composited with ZnO then the active material was coated on Ni Foam Through the hydrothermal method. To find the structure and morphology of the sample, the physical characterization was performed by Raman, XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, and BET. The electrochemical properties of the electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge analysis (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed that the ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/Ni presented a specific capacitance of 532 F·g−1 at a scan rate of 10 mV·s−1 and excellent cycling stability of 88% capacitance retention during 3000 GCD cycles at 8 A·g−1. [Display omitted] •Preparation of CNT by deposition of ammonia molecules by a CVD method•Synthesis and characterization of ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4 by hydrothermal method•Fabrication of ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/Ni Foam as supercapacitor electrode•Study of ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/NF electrode for supercapacitive applications•Capacitance and stability of ZnO-CNT@Fe3O4/NF during 3000 charge-discharge cycle