A Hydrothermally Prepared Lithium and Copper MOF Composite as Anode Material for Hybrid Supercapacitor Applications

Metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs), which are porous organic/inorganic materials and can be used for various applications in battery research, have grasped interest in the domains of energy storage and conversion systems because of highly tunable morphology, open topological structure, extremely redox active and large surface area. The battery type electrodes were synthesized through a hydrothermal approach which is followed by calcination process. Initially, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope characterizations were performed to study the MOFs structural and surface topologies. Later on, electrochemical characterizations (cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) were executed. Three electrode assembly were accomplished to test the electrochemical performance of Li MOF, Cu MOF and LiCu MOF in which the LiCu MOF electrode has obtained at 3 mV/s its highest specific capacity of 484.4 C/g. After studying the experimental process, the charge storage mechanism was further scrutinized by using multiple theoretical approaches, confirming the behavior of the synthesized materials. To explore further the application of LiCu MOF, a hybrid device was fabricated with activated carbon which results in high energy of 36.1 Wh/kg and power of 5100 W/kg. The obtained LiCu MOF material is a viable option for both batteries and hybrid supercapacitors electrodes due to its suitable electrochemical properties.