Functionalized crown ether assisted morphological tuning of CuO nanosheets for electrochemical supercapacitors

Controlling surface morphology of transition metal oxides play a key role in various applications. Here, we report new and facile route of dibenzothiazolyl dibenzo-18-crown-6 ether (DDCE) assisted synthesis of CuO nanosheets by hydrothermal method. DDCE is used as task specific structure directing agent for the shape controlled synthesis of CuO nanosheets. The effect of DDCE on morphology, surface area and electrochemical properties of CuO nanosheets is studied. The synthesized CuO nanosheets exhibited excellent capacitive properties such as high specific capacitance 130.6 F g⁻¹ at 10 mV s⁻¹. These CuO nanosheets play important role in ion transportation and provide more active sites for electrochemical reactions. This work represents a new approach for preparation of CuO nanostructures by hydrothermal method. The prepared CuO nanostructures can be potential electrode material for high performance supercapacitors for the next generation energy storage devices.