Nanocomposite of copper spinel: A novel hybrid material for energy storage application

16^th International Conference on Emerging Materials and Nanotechnology

March 22-23, 2018 | London, UK

Sutapa Ghosh

CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Hyderabad, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

In the context of global energy crisis and severe environmental concerns, the thirst to explore and develop novel alternative green energy sources has become the most important priority. In this scenario, novel energy storage materials have attracted a significant interest due to their superior properties such as high energy density, power density, long cycling life, fast charge/ discharge process and environmental friendliness. Among spinel oxides, CuCr2O4 is unique, economical and nontoxic in nature. So far, CuCr2O4 has been used as an efficient catalyst for various chemical reactions such as hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, oxidation, alkylation, etc. CuCr2O4 has also been exploited as a burn rate modifier in solid propellant processing for rockets and missiles. Furthermore, several other uses of CuCr2O4 include sensors, semiconductors, heat-resistant pigments etc. Nevertheless, there are very few reports on the feasibility of employing CuCr2O4 as electroactive material for energy storage. In this study, we report a novel copper chromite-polyaniline (CuCr2O4 -PANI) nanocomposite electrode material for fabrication of highperformance energy storage. First CuCr2O4 is synthesized via sol-gel driven epoxide method followed by its nanocomposite with PANI through in situ chemical oxidative polymerization method. The micro structure and morphology of CuCr2O4 -PANI are characterized by various techniques. The as synthesized nanocomposite with optimized ratio exhibits a specific capacity of 479.2 C g-1 at 2 mV s-1 and high cycling stability with 93.9% capacity retention after 1000 charge-discharge cycles. Furthermore, it shows energy and power densities of 26.6 Wh kg-1 and 3600 W kg-1, respectively. The change in electrochemical properties of the nanocomposite with increasing CuCr2O4 loading is explained in detail. sghosh@iict.res.in