Amorphous Cr<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> Sheets: A Novel Supercapacitor Electrode Material

An ongoing field of study involves improving the performance and stability of benchmarked metal catalysts employing nanostructured non-metallic materials, which is both fascinating from a fundamental and an application standpoint. By rapidly thermally exfoliating CrCl3 6H2O precursors, amorphous few-layered nanosheets of Cr2O3 (3-5 nm) are synthesized. The exfoliated Cr2O3 was characterized using structural and electrochemical techniques. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) revealed that the material delivers a specific capacitance of 1100 F/g at 10 mV/s, which is among the best-reported values for this material. This sample has a modest surface area of 155 m2/g with a mesoporous structure. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) for amorphous Cr2O3 revealed lower series resistance (Rs) and charge transfer resistance (Rct) of 0.6 Ω and 0.88 Ω, respectively. Additionally, this material delivers a desirable energy and power density of 20.2 Wh/kg and 125 W/kg, respectively.