Synthesis, characterization and electrochemical evaluation of a novel high performance SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/graphene-oxide ternary nanocomposites for supercapacitor applications

This study developed ternary SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO nanocomposites through a multistage process counting (i) hydrothermal processes to synthesize ZnCo₂O₄ nanostructures, (ii) in-situ sonochemical method to prepare SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄ nanoparticles, and (iii) mild hydrothermal reaction to fabricate SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO nanocomposites. Ternary SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO nanocomposite with a synergistic effect of SnO₂ nanoparticles, ZnCo₂O₄ nanostructures and GO nanosheets exhibited a great specific capacitance of 645 F g⁻¹ at 2.5 A g⁻¹. While this value for SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄, ZnCo₂O₄, and SnO₂ nanostructures, was approximately 400, 365, and 304.55 F g⁻¹, respectively. Three-component SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO nanostructures displayed exceptional cyclability, retaining 82.36 % of its initial capacity after 1000 cycles of cyclic voltammetry testing at a sweeping scan rate of 50 mV s⁻¹. Additionally, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) was fabricated using SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO and activated carbon (AC) as cathode and anode electrodes, respectively. The HSC device achieved a great power density of 1299.80 W kg⁻¹ and an energy density of 53.4 W h kg⁻¹ within a potential range of 0–1.3 V. These results confirm that three-components SnO₂/ZnCo₂O₄/GO nanocomposites are promising candidate for usage in advanced energy storage devices.