Electrochemical behavior of solvothermally grown ZIF-8 as electrode material for supercapacitor applications

In this study, we have synthesized the pristine ZIF-8 nanostructures as electrode material via solvothermal technique. The structural and morphological studies were done by powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the cubic phase. The obtained products were nanocrystals having size of ∼52 nm is calculated using Debye scherrer equation. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) exposed the rectangular plate’s type morphology. Furthermore, organic and inorganic functional groups are detected by FTIR spectroscopy. The electrochemical study of the prepared sample was done by electrochemical workstation using three-electrode set up in 6 M KOH electrolyte. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge (GCD) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) confirmed the pseudocapacitive behavior of ZIF-8. Synthesized ZIF-8 exhibited a specific capacitance of 35.38 F/g at current density 1 A/g. As-prepared ZIF-8 showed a specific capacitance of 42.22 F/g at 10 mV/s scan rate. Therefore, solvothermally synthesized pure ZIF-8 could be investigated as the elegant electrode material for high performance supercapacitors.