Reducing and Uniforming the Co3O4 Particle Size by Sulfonated Graphenal Polymers for Electrochemical Applications

A novel two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, namely sulfonated graphenal polymer (SGP), is used to tune the hydrothermal growth of Co3O4 nanoparticles. SGP provides abundant nucleation sites to grow Co3O4 nanoparticles and effectively reduces the particle size and dimension. As a result, with considering the improved size uniformity of Co3O4 and the tight wrapping of SGP around Co3O4 as well, the Co3O4/SGP hybrid electrode exhibits a high specific electrochemical capacitance of 234.28 F/g at a current density of 0.2 A/g, 237% higher than that of the pure Co3O4 electrode. By using the hybrid as the anode of an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor, the capacitance can be well maintained up to 93% after 5000 cycles even at 2 A/g.