High-performance supercapacitors of Cu-based porous coordination polymer nanowires and the derived porous CuO nanotubes

Abstract

Electrode materials for supercapacitors with one-dimensional porous nanostructures, such as nanowires and nanotubes, are very attractive for high-efficiency storage of electrochemical energy. Herein, ultralong Cu-based porous coordination polymer nanowires (copper-L-aspartic acid) were used as the electrode material for supercapacitors, for the first time. The as-prepared material exhibits a high specific capacitance of 367 F g⁻¹ at 0.6 A g⁻¹ and excellent cycling stability (94% retention over 1000 cycles). Moreover, porous CuO nanotubes were successfully fabricated by the thermal decomposition of this nanowire precursor. The CuO nanotube exhibits good electrochemical performance with high rate capacity (77% retention at 12.5 A g⁻¹) and long-term stability (96% retention over 1000 cycles). The strategy developed here for the synthesis of porous nanowires and nanotubes can be extended to the construction of other electrode materials for more efficient energy storage.