Preparation of ZnCo₂O₄ nanowire arrays with high capacitive by a one-step low-temperature water bath and calcination methods

In this paper, ZnCo₂O₄ nanowire arrays (NWAs) were successfully prepared on carbon cloth (CC) conductive substrates using a water bath method followed by calcination treatment. The as-prepared ZnCo₂O₄ NWAs were uniformly grown on the conductive substrates and their length was about 10 um. Cyclic voltammetry, charge–discharge, and the other electrochemical testing methods were used to research the electrochemical performance of the ZnCo₂O₄ NWAs. The results indicate that the product had a good specific capacity and cyclic stability. When the current density is 1 A g⁻¹, the specific capacity of the as-prepared ZnCo₂O₄ NWAs reaches 2300 F g⁻¹. The cycling stability of the ZnCo₂O₄ NWAs reaches 96.84% after 10,000 cycles at a current density of 5 A g⁻¹. In addition, we have assembled an asymmetric supercapacitor by using the material and activated carbon (AC) as positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The device has a maximum voltage window of 1.6 V and can operate in this voltage range class. The device has a good specific capacity (248 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹) and excellent capacity retention (97.42% after 10,000 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹). The relevant experimental data show that it has a maximum energy density of 88.18 Wh kg⁻¹ (specific power of 800 W kg⁻¹) and a maximum power density of 12,000 W kg⁻¹ (specific energy of 53.69 Wh kg⁻¹). In this paper, ZnCo₂O₄ nanowire materials were prepared by water bath and calcination, which provided a strategy for preparing high-performance electrode materials.