Facile preparation of TiO2/C3N4 hybrid materials with enhanced capacitive properties for high performance supercapacitors

Abstract A new tendency in supercapacitor research has focused on the construction of the inexpensive electrode materials with long cycle stability. In this study, TiO 2 /C 3 N 4 hybrid materials are synthesized through an efficient, low-cost, facile hydrothermal approach followed by a heat treatment for the first time. The hybrid materials are further used as electrodes for supercapacitors. Interestingly, compared to pure TiO 2 nanoparticles, TiO 2 /C 3 N 4 hybrid materials exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with improved specific capacitance, great rate performance and cycling stability (capacitance retention of 100% after 1000 cycles), which can be attributed to good conductivity and low polarization resulting in a high utilization of active materials. Furthermore, it was found that the capacitive properties of TiO 2 /C 3 N 4 hybrid were related to the pore sizes and electrical resistances of active materials. The electrode materials with smaller pore size and resistance showed higher capacitive properties.