Enhanced dielectric and supercapacitive properties of spherical like Sr doped Sm2O3@CoO triple oxide nanostructures

Abstract

Integrating the hybrid nanostructures exhibiting enhanced storage and electrical properties requires tuning of composition of constituents. To address this issue, we prepared Sr2+ nanoparticles (NPs) decorated over Sm2O3@CoO nanostructures (NS) by chemical precipitation. The structure integrity of the composite was determined by analytical tools. Based on the strongest peak of X-ray diffraction (XRD), crystallite size of the nanoparticles was determined to be 26.14 nm, indicating a mixed phase of monoclinic and tetragonal crystal formation. FESEM revealed a spherical-like morphology with a homogeneous distribution of microstructures with average sizes ranging from 68 nm to 60 nm. The optical absorptivity revealed a redshift in absorption bands centred at 337.0 nm, 343.9 nm, and 353.0 nm in UV-region. The optical band gap of NS was found to be in the range of 3.38 eV to 3.15 eV, and the BET surface area of Sr15%:Sm2O3@CoO was found to be 458-469 cm2/g with a corresponding pore size of 13.17 nm. All Sr-doped Sm2O3@CoO NS exhibited higher ionic conductivity and dielectric constant than undoped material. In an aqueous KOH electrolyte, the NS showed a specific capacity of 234.2C/g (65.1mAh/g) demonstrating the material as potential candidate in energy storage and dielectrics.