Dispersed and size-selected WO3 nanoparticles in carbon aerogel for supercapacitor applications

In this study, the dispersed and size-selected WO3 nanoparticles have been successfully incorporated into carbon aerogel (CA), a conductive, mesoporous hosting template, via solvent-immersion process and subsequent calcination treatment. Size selecting of WO3 in CA is achieved via a facile route of concentration adjustment of immersion solution. Meanwhile, the strong dependence of capacitive performance on size distribution and dispersing/aggregate condition of WO3 nanoparticles in CA is observed. Also the dependence of the specific capacitance of WO3 in CA on WO3 content and on its mean size is presented by comparison with the reported studies. Consequently, the mean size of WO3 nanoparticles in CA is reduced to 7.3 nm and the range of size distribution of those is confined to 1-25 nm with well-dispersing features by applying optimal processing parameters. Such optimized WO3 nanoparticles in CA exhibit a maximum specific capacitance of 1055 F g(-1) at 5 mV s(-1), which is much higher than as-reported capacitance values achieved with WO3 as the electrodes up to now for all we know. This study offers a new method to achieve high capacitance by compositing size-selected metal oxide nanoparticles with cheap high-conductivity mesoporous template. (c) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.