Morphological effect on electrochemical performance of nanostructural CrN

Size and morphology are critical factors in determining the electrochemical performance of the supercapacitor materials, due to the manifestation of the nanosize effect. Herein, different nanostructures of the CrN material are prepared by the combination of a thermal-nitridation process and a template technique. High-temperature nitridation could not only transform the hexagonal Cr₂O₃ into cubic CrN, but also keep the template morphology barely unchanged. The obtained CrN nanostructures, including (i) hierarchical microspheres assembled by nanoparticles, (ii) microlayers, and (iii) nanoparticles, are studied for the electrochemical supercapacitor. The CrN microspheres show the best specific capacitance (213.2 F/g), cyclic stability (capacitance retention rate of 96% after 5000 cycles in 1-mol/L KOH solution), high energy density (28.9 Wh/kg), and power density (443.4 W/kg), comparing with the other two nanostructures. Based on the impedance spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption analysis, it is revealed that the enhancement arised mainly from a high-conductance and specific surface area of CrN microspheres. This work presents a general strategy of fabricating controllable CrN nanostructures to achieve the enhanced supercapacitor performance.