Abundant chitosan was rationally used for the green fabrication
of cadmium oxide nanorods (CdO nanorods) owing to its environmentally
benign characteristics, bioavailability, low cost, etc. However, the
primary unsubstituted amino group of chitosan interacts with the surface
of Cd salt at higher temperatures, resulting in CdO nanorod formation.
A one-step hydrothermal technique was adopted in the presence of chitosan.
Optical, structural, and morphology techniques characterized CdO nanorods.
According to X-ray diffraction crystallography, CdO is well crystallized
in the face-centered cubic lattice with an Fm-3m (225) space group. The AC@CdO nanoelectrode demonstrated
an outstanding gravimetric capacitance of 320 F g–1 at a current density of 0.5 A g–1, nearly three-fold
that of ordinary AC electrodes. The AC electrode and the AC@CdO nanoelectrode
retain 90 and 93% of their initial specific capacitance after 10,000
galvanostatic charge discharge cycles. The AC@CdO nanoelectrode has
a lower equivalent series resistance value than the AC electrode.
Moreover, AC@CdO symmetric supercapacitor devices achieve excellent
results in terms of specific energy, specific power, and capacitance
retention.