Nanograins-grafted nanorods of MoO2/carbon composite for supercapacitor application

Metallic oxide/carbon composite has been extensively studied and widely used for energy storage in supercapacitor and lithium ion battery. In this paper, we synthesized nanograins-grafted nanorods of MoO2/carbon composites through a facile chemical reaction process without any template. Well crystallized MoO2 with monoclinic structure was identified in the XRD pattern. MoO2 nanograins with the size of 30-50nm were grown on the carbon nanorods, which were a few microns in length. Coupling of the rods-like carbon with good conductivity and the well distributed redox-active MoO2 leads to improved electrochemical performance. The cyclic voltammogram measurement shows that the as-prepared nanocomposites exhibit a broad potential window of 1.3V, which is extremely desired for supercapacitor application. The symmetrical supercapacitor of the nanograins-grafted nanorods of MoO2/carbon composites can work even at a high electric potential of 1.2V in aqueous electrolyte which seems impossible for many other metallic oxide and carbon composites.