Complimentary effects of annealing temperature on optimal tuning of functionalized carbon–V2O5 hybrid nanobelts for targeted dual applications in electrochromic and supercapacitor devices

Abstract

Herein, carbon nanosphere-decorated vanadium pentoxide (C@V₂O₅) hybrid nanobelts were grown via a single step hydrothermal route with improved electronic conductivity as compared to that of pristine oxide. This hybrid nanomaterial exhibits different complimentary ranges of optimum post-growth annealing temperatures, which are suitable for dual applications either in electro-chromic smart windows or in supercapacitors. C@V₂O₅ nanobelts annealed at 350 °C appear to favor electro-chromic applications. They exhibit maximum dynamic optical transmission modulation as they switch from yellow to dark green, fast switching response, and high visible transmittance. In contrast, C@V₂O₅nanobelts annealed at 250 °C have been found to be most suitable for supercapacitor applications. They display a high specific capacity and an enhanced diffusion coefficient. Moreover, they exhibit long lifetimes with a capacity retention of ∼94% even after 5000 cycles of operation. Therefore, the obtained results clearly indicate that optimization of the post-growth annealing temperatures is very important and rather complementary in nature in terms of determining the most favorable device functionalities. It enables us to optimally tune these hybrid nanomaterials for targeted, device-specific, energy applications in either electrochromic or supercapacitor technologies simply based on the annealing temperature alone.