Facile synthesis of electrostatically anchored Nd(OH)3 nanorods onto graphene nanosheets as a high capacitance electrode material for supercapacitors

Neodymium hydroxide nanorods [Nd(OH)(3)] are developed by a facile chemical precipitation method without any surfactants/templates at ambient temperature. The neodymium hydroxide nanorods-graphene [Nd(OH)(3)/G] nanohybrid is prepared by a simple solvothermal reduction process using Nd(OH)(3)/GO in a mass ratio of 1 : 0.5 in dimethylformamide for 7 h. This new Nd(OH)(3)/G nanohybrid can be used as an electrode material for supercapacitors; it exhibits good capacitive behaviour, with a specific capacitance of 820 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1). The nanohybrid exhibits a capacitance retention of 96% even after 3000 continuous charge-discharge cycles. This excellent electrochemical behaviour is mainly attributed to the synergetic effect of Nd(OH)(3) and graphene. The asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device is denoted as Nd(OH)(3)/G parallel to AC; a poly(vinylidene fluoride) electrospun membrane soaked in 6 M KOH was used as a separator as well as the electrolyte. The ASC device functions in an optimized potential window of 1.6 V with an energy density of 40 W h kg(-1). Furthermore, the ASC device exhibits excellent capacitance retention of 85.3% with a Coulombic efficiency of 97% even after 5000 cycles. This new hybrid electrode material shows impressive performance and can be used as an electrode material for asymmetric supercapacitors.