Hybridizing Fe3O4 nanocrystals with nitrogen-doped carbon nanowires for high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

This study develops a facile approach to anchor Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals uniformly onto nitrogen-doped carbon nanowires (NCN). The influence of the ratio of Fe₃O₄ to NCN on the structure and pseudocapacitance performance of the nanocomposite is investigated systematically. It is found that the best performance is realized when the mass percentage of Fe₃O₄ is 65.9%. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of the nanostructure and conductive matrix, the optimized nanocomposite delivers high specific capacitance (541.7 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹), superior rate capability (337.1 F g⁻¹ at 10 A g⁻¹), as well as good cyclability. This nanocomposite is also used as the anode material for assembling an asymmetric supercapacitor, which exhibits a high specific energy of 59.1 W h kg⁻¹ and high specific power of 17.85 kW kg⁻¹. The results manifest the great potential of this nanocomposite for next-generation high-power applications.