Multifaceted characterization of a Zn0.9Ca0.1Fe2O4/CeO2/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite electrode for battery-type supercapacitors

The majority of current energy application research is focused on the development of electrode materials for high-power devices. We investigated the electrochemical properties of a Zn0.9Ca0.1Fe2O4/CeO2/NiFe2O4 nano-composite. The crystallographic characteristics of the produced nanocomposite were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structure of the material was confirmed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fourier transform infrared electron spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis found two distinct vibrational bands at 699.65 and 545.02 cm-1, which can be attributed to metal-oxygen bond stretching in both tetrahedral and octahedral configurations. Magnetic measurements were done at room temperature using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and the magnetic behavior of the nano-composite was found to be 33.82 emu/g. The results demonstrated battery-like behavior, with a specific capacity (Cs) of 266.7 C g-1 at 1 A/g. Notably, the prepared electrode had a significant capacity retention of 90 % even after 5000 cycles. These findings emphasize the nanocomposite's potential for a wide range of energy storage applications.