Study on the voltage drop of vanadium nitride/carbon composites derived from the pectin/VCl3 membrane as a supercapacitor anode material

Abstract

The adsorption of metal ions and the further utilization of adsorbent materials help solve serious environmental pollution; therefore, transforming them into supercapacitor electrode materials could be a promising possibility. Here, we used pectin as a heavy metal ion adsorbent to prepare a series of vanadium-containing precursors, and different vanadium nitride and carbon composites were prepared via annealing with varied water contents in the precursors. By studying these composites, we found that the addition of water can effectively improve the final oxygen content of the product chemical oxygen, thereby improving the wettability or hydrophilicity of the composite material. Furthermore, hydrophilicity or wettability improves some electrochemical characteristics, particularly the voltage drop. Electrodes with a high voltage drop have poor hydrophilicity, and hence a systematic study from phenomena to mechanisms associated with voltage drop is conducted in detail.