Electrosynthesis of neodymium oxide nanorods and its nanocomposite with conjugated conductive polymer as a hybrid electrode material for highly capacitive pseudocapacitors

Abstract Herein, we report for the first time a facile and cost-efficient synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures comprised of nanorods type without the use of any additive. Nd(OH) 3 and Nd 2 O 3 nanorods were obtained by ultrasound wave assisted pulse electrochemical deposition in a Nd(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O nitrate bath. In addition, the interconnected nanorods were mesoporous leading to large electrochemical active sites for the redox reaction and fast ion transport within the Nd 2 O 3 nanorods. Furthermore, for improving the electrochemical performance of conductive polymer, hybrid POAP/Nd 2 O 3 films have then been fabricated by POAP electropolymerization in the presence of Nd 2 O 3 nanorods as active electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors. Surface and electrochemical analyses have been used for characterization of Nd 2 O 3 and POAP/Nd 2 O 3 composite films. Different electrochemical methods including galvanostatic charge discharge experiments, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have been applied to study the system performance. Prepared composite film exhibited a significantly high specific capacity, high rate capability and excellent cycling stability. Importantly, electrochemical investigation show that POAP/Nd 2 O 3 nanorods composite material has better properties than POAP without Nd 2 O 3 nanorods, suggesting it can be used as supercapacitor electrode material with excellent specific capacitance (379 F g −1 ) which indicates this material is a promising electrode material for energy storage applications in high-performance pseudocapacitors.