One-step Pulsed Laser Deposition of Metal oxynitride/Carbon Composites for Supercapacitor Application

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel single-step pulsed laser deposition method to synthesize tunable 3D porous carbon-metal oxynitride nanocomposites, enhancing supercapacitor electrode performance for flexible energy storage.

Contribution

It introduces a unique single-step PLD process for creating tunable carbon-metal oxynitride nanocomposites with adjustable composition and structure for supercapacitor applications.

Findings

Tunable elemental composition achieved by target configuration and ablation positioning.

Enhanced charge-storage performance linked to compositional tuning.

Successful fabrication of binder-free thin film supercapacitor electrodes.

Abstract

Advanced material composite of nanocarbons and metal-based materials provides a synergistic effect to obtain excellent electrochemical charge-storage performance and other properties. Herein, 3D porous carbon-metal oxynitride nanocomposites with tunable carbon/metal and oxygen/nitrogen ratio are synthesized uniquely by simultaneous ablation from two different targets by single-step pulsed laser deposition at room temperature. Co-ablation of titanium and vanadium nitride targets together with graphite allowed us to synthesize carbon-metal oxynitride porous nanocomposite and exploit them as a binder-free thin film supercapacitor electrode in aqueous electrolyte. We show that the elemental composition ratio and hence the structural properties can be tuned by selecting target configuration and by manipulating the ablation position. We investigate how this tuning capability impacts their charge-storage performances. We anticipate the utilization of as-synthesized various composites in a single PLD production run as next-generation active materials for flexible energy storage and optoelectronic applications.