Electrochemical investigation of a facile MoO3/NiO/PdO/Pd nano electrode material for supercapacitor applications

BACKGROUND: Owing to the significance of metal oxide nanomaterials for energy storage supercapacitors, sustainable, cost-effective and scalable synthesis of facile nanomaterials is a great challenge in the current era. Here, we have hydrothermally synthesized and functionalized a facile ternary metal oxides (MoO3/NiO/PdO/Pd) nanomaterial using the green phyto-organic reducing plus stabilizing reagent Euphorbia cognata Boiss foliar extract (FE). The aqueous-prepared FE was reacted with metal precursors and during this process, free octodrine and cyclobutanol organic functional groups of FE were incorporated as stabilizing agents. RESULTS: The synthesized MoO3/NiO/PdO/Pd demonstrated an optical band gap energy of 1.6 eV. Supercapacitor measurements of prepared MoO3/NiO/PdO/Pd were carried out on nickel (Ni) foam-modified electrodes via charge–discharge (GCD), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). CV measurements have been recorded at the range of scan rates (2–300 mV s−1) and it was found that the nanocomposite-modified Ni foam showed a specific capacitance of 257 F g−1 at a scanning rate of 2 mV s−1. Furthermore, from the GCD investigation, it was revealed that 175 F g−1 was achieved at 0.5 A g−1 with a discharge current-based energy density of 7.2 Wh kg−1. The fabricated electrode showed a 0.4 Ω resistance value from the impedance Nyquist plot. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that the MoO3/NiO/PdO/Pd nanocomposite with the smaller synergistic band gap and catalytic advantage of phytostabilizing agents revealed exceptional capacitive properties, validating its potential as a supercapacitor electrode. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI)