Facile solvothermal synthesis of porous ZnFe2O4 microspheres for capacitive pseudocapacitors

Abstract

A facile and cost-effective solvothermal approach to the fabrication of ZnFe₂O₄ microspheres composed of nanocrystals has been developed. The morphology and structure of the products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and field-emission scanning electronic microscopy, and N₂-adsorption–desorption. Meanwhile, the magnetic properties of the product were investigated via vibrating sample magnetism. Finally, the electrochemical performance of the obtained ZnFe₂O₄ microspheres was measured by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge techniques. The results show that such structured ZnFe₂O₄ has a specific capacitance of 131 F g⁻¹ and stable cycling performance with 92% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles, which make it have a potential application as a supercapacitor electrode material.