Synthesis of mesoporous SnO₂/NiO nanocomposite using modified sol-gel method and its electrochemical performance as...

In this research work, SnO₂, NiO and SnO₂/NiO nanocomposites were synthesized at low temperature by modified sol-gel method using ultrasonication. Prepared samples were investigated for their properties employing various characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the purity and phase of the samples as no secondary phase was detected. The average crystallite size of the nanocomposites was found to decrease from 19.24 to 4.53 nm with the increase in NiO concentration. It was confirmed from SEM micrographs that the material has mesoporous morphology. This mesoporous morphology resulted in the increase of the surface to mass ratio of the material, which in turn increases the specific capacitance of the material. The UV-Visible spectra showed the variation in the band gap of SnO₂/NiO at different weight ratio ranging from 3.49 to 3.25 eV on increasing NiO concentration in the samples. These composites with different mass ratio of SnO₂ and NiO were also characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy that showed shifting of the peaks centered at 545 cm^-1 in the spectra for NiO/SnO₂ nanocomposite. The analysis of the electrochemical performance of the material was done with the help of cyclic voltammetry and Galvanostatic charge-discharge. The specific capacitance of the synthesized samples with different concentration of SnO₂ and NiO was analyzed at different scan rates of 5 to 100 mV/s. Interestingly, 7:1 mass ratio of NiO and SnO₂ (SN7) nanocomposite exhibited a maximum specific capacitance of ~ 464 F/g at a scan rate of 5 mV/s and good capacitance retention of 87.24% after 1,000 cycles. These excellent electrochemical properties suggest that the SnO₂/NiO nanocomposite can be used for high energy density supercapacitor electrode material.