Superior performance of hierarchical 3D microflower CuS grown on carbon cloth as binder free electrode for supercapacitor applications

Copper sulfide (CuS) was grown on the carbon cloth (CC) utilizing the traditional hydrothermal method. The role of different reaction time of 5 h, 10 h, and 15 h (C15) were investigated with fixed reaction time of 150 degrees C. XRD confirmed the growth of pure CuS on CC. Macroscopic changes in morphology were observed with increasing the reaction time and C15 showed 3.08 mu m diameter of CuS microflowers with 34.68 nm thickness of nanosheets embedded in the microflowers. C15 showed a lowest bandgap of 1.8 eV with high copper content of 34 % and the copper content increases fast electron movement and maintains structural stability. The supercapacitor behavior was investigated in 1 M Mg(NO3)2 3 ) 2 aqueous electrolyte and C15 demonstrated the highest specific capacitance of 83.70 F/g at 5 mV/s. An aqueous symmetric electrode made with C15 displays 149 F/g specific capacitance and 87.2 % retention at 1 A/g for 1000 cycles.