Electrosynthesis of neodymium oxide nanorods and its nanocomposite with conjugated conductive polymer as a hybrid electrode material for highly capacitive pseudocapacitors.

Herein, we report for the first time a facile and cost-efficient synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures comprised of nanorods type without the use of any additive. Nd(OH)3 and Nd2O3 nanorods were obtained by ultrasound wave assisted pulse electrochemical deposition in a Nd(NO3)3·6H2O nitrate bath. In addition, the interconnected nanorods were mesoporous leading to large electrochemical active sites for the redox reaction and fast ion transport within the Nd2O3 nanorods. Furthermore, for improving the electrochemical performance of conductive polymer, hybrid POAP/Nd2O3 films have then been fabricated by POAP electropolymerization in the presence of Nd2O3 nanorods as active electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors. Surface and electrochemical analyses have been used for characterization of Nd2O3 and POAP/Nd2O3 composite films. Different electrochemical methods including galvanostatic charge discharge experiments, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have been applied to study the system performance. Prepared composite film exhibited a significantly high specific capacity, high rate capability and excellent cycling stability. Importantly, electrochemical investigation show that POAP/Nd2O3 nanorods composite material has better properties than POAP without Nd2O3 nanorods, suggesting it can be used as supercapacitor electrode material with excellent specific capacitance (379Fg(-1)) which indicates this material is a promising electrode material for energy storage applications in high-performance pseudocapacitors.