Nanostructured vanadium oxide based systems: their applications in supercapacitors

Synthesis and characterisation of nanostructured vanadium oxide based systems and their application in energy storage devices, namely supercapacitors, is presented. Vanadium oxide has been synthesised using a hydrothermal route in presence of various templates. X-ray diffraction studies reveal the formation of vanadium (IV) oxide as majority phase. SEM and TEM results depict presence of different nano-structured morphologies depending upon the template used. BET surface area measurement shows an increase of similar to 7 times in the surface area of the synthesised powders in comparison to surface area of the starting raw powders. Conductivity enhancement of similar to 3 to 5 orders of magnitude is observed as compared to conductivity of the starting raw material. These properties make this templated system suitable for application as electrode material in energy storage devices such as supercapacitors. Promising results of charge discharge on supercapacitors assembled using templated vanadium oxide based electrodes are reported. It is proposed that such systems can act as a cheap alternative to RuO(2).