Cadmium Hydroxide Nanowires for High Performance Supercapacitor by Chemical Bath Deposition

Cadmium hydroxide [Cd(OH)₂] has gained significant recognition as a promising material for supercapacitor electrodes due to its unique electrochemical characteristics. In this study, cost-effective chemical bath deposition (CBD) method was employed to synthesize Cd(OH)₂ nanowires on stainless-steel substrate at room temperature for use as a supercapacitor electrode. Characterization of synthesized Cd(OH)₂ nanowires was carried out using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD pattern confirmed pure phase formation of Cd(OH)₂. On the other hand, SEM studies revealed the formation of uniform and interconnected Cd(OH)₂ nanowires with a remarkable specific surface area of 23.96 m² g^-1, which is advantageous for improving interactions between the electrode and the electrolyte. Besides this, the electrochemical performance of Cd(OH)₂ electrode was tested using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques by three-electrode cell configuration with a 1 M NaOH aqueous electrolyte. The electrochemical analysis demonstrated that the Cd(OH)₂ nanowire thin film electrode exhibited an impressive specific capacitance of 356 F g^-1 at a current density of 1 A g^-1. Furthermore, it displayed a long cycling life, with 74% retention of its initial capacitance after 5000 cycles measured at a scan rate of 100 mV s^-1.