Thioacetamide-induced Ce₂O₂S nanostructures with tunable morphology for supercapacitors in wide pH range

Here, Rare-earth metal oxysulfide Ce₂O₂S nanostructures with tunable morphology are successfully grown on carbon cloth (CC) for supercapacitors (SCs) via a facile hydrothermal process followed by pyrolysis treatment for the first time. The feeding amount of sulfur source thioacetamide (TAA) plays an important role in the formation of Ce₂O₂S nanostructures with tunable morphology. Adjusting TAA feeding amount from 0.5 to 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 g, the morphology of the resulted Ce₂O₂S nanostructure can change from pine bark-like agglomerated nanoparticles to fan-shaped nanosheets with edged branches, cuttlefish-like nanostructure with long terminal whiskers and polygon prism with spikes. Among them, Ce₂O₂S/CC-1.0 g TAA nanostructure with largest specific surface area and abundant mesopores exhibits a high specific capacitance of 670, 321.5 or 588.3 mF cm^-2 at 1 mA cm^-2 in an acid, neutral or alkaline electrolyte, respectively. Moreover, Ce₂O₂S/CC-1.0 g TAA electrode delivers excellent cycling stability with high capacitance retention of 93% after 5000 cycles in alkaline electrolyte. Our findings present a new strategy to fabricate rare-earth metal oxysulfide Ce₂O₂S nanostructures with controllable morphology and systematically reveal their electrochemical performance for SCs, moreover, provide new perspectives for boosting the preparation and application of metal oxysulfides in energy storage.