Construction of three-dimensional
(3D) flower-like nanostructures
with controlled morphologies has emerged as an attractive tool by
scientists in the marine electric field sensor research field due
to their peculiar structural features. Herein, novel 3D flower-like
Ag-CF capacitive composite electrodes have been created by an eco-friendly
water-bath strategy via AgNO3 as a sliver source and subsequently
compounded with carbon fibers (CFs) pretreated by thermal oxidation.
A series of electrode samples with various morphologies obtained by
modulating different reaction times and temperatures bring about the
dominant formation mechanism of these nanostructures and the influence
behavior on the CF electrode in detail. Especially, the 3D flower-like
Ag-CF electrode shows a large surface area acquired under the conditions
of 80 °C and 15 min, which can provide more electroactive sites
in electrochemical analysis and exhibit a maximum areal specific capacitance
of 619.75 mF·cm–2 at a scanning speed of 10
mV·s–1. This is mainly due to the synergistic
behavior of the unique 3D flower-like morphology and the large specific
surface area of CFs. Furthermore, a cylinder-shaped Ag-CF sensor is
designed, which delivers a superior potential difference of 33.08
μV, a potential difference drift of 18.62 μV/24 h for
30 days, and a self-noise of 0.92 nV/rt (Hz)@1 Hz. In this work, the
intriguing synthesis strategy can be a promising facile approach to
manufacture the controllable 3D flower-like Ag-CF electrode for electric
field sensor applications.