Facile synthesis of CuCo₂O₄ composite octahedrons for high performance supercapacitor application

Shape tailoring of active materials could alter the performance of supercapacitors. Herein, we report the ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) assisted hydrothermal approach for the synthesis of single crystalline CuCo₂O₄ octahedrons and their application in a supercapacitor. Morphology and BET surface area analysis demonstrates the formation of CuCo₂O₄ octahedrons with a surface area of 61.97 m² g⁻¹. As an active material, the CuCo₂O₄ octahedrons exhibited a high specific capacity of 989 C g^-1 at 5 mV s⁻¹. In addition, a long-term cyclic stability with 87% of its initial specific capacity retention was achieved after 5000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹. This outstanding performance could be ascribed to its unique octahedron morphology. The electrochemical results demonstrate that CuCo₂O₄ with such a unique octahedron architecture could be a potential active material for the development of a high performance supercapacitor.