Cobalt phosphide nanowire arrays grown on carbon cloth as novel electrode material for supercapacitors

It is very important to exploit new electrode materials to enhance supercapacitor performances. In this study, the mesoporous cobalt phosphide (CoP) nanowire arrays on carbon cloth have been fabricated by low-temperature phosphidation of hydrothermally obtained Co precursor. The CoP electrode shows a remarkable areal capacitance of 1.89 F/cm(2) at current densities of 3 mA/cm(2). Furthermore, the electrode exhibits excellent cycling stability (similar to 3% loss after the repetitive 4000 cycles at 18 mA/cm(2)) and Coulombic efficiency (similar to 97.6% after 4000 cycles).