High rate performance supercapacitor based on Nb2O5 nanoparticles

In the present communication, we report the successful preparation of Nb2O5 nanoparticles from precursor NbCl5 using hydrothermal method, followed by thermal annealing. The surface morphology of the as-prepared material was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while crystal structure and vibrational response was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The observed results indicate the successful synthesis of Nb2O5 nanoparticles. The electrochemical properties of the material was investigated in two-electrode assembly in 1 M LiClO4 solution using the techniques of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Both EIS and CV studies show high rate performance of the assembled supercapacitor cells. Fabricated cell offers low response time (∼17.1 ms), and the shape of CV pattern remains almost rectangular, even for high scan rates (∼20 V s−1).