Novel Bio-Chelating Agent-Assisted Eco-Friendly Synthesis of Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ba, Ce) Perovskite Electrodes for Super Capacitor Applications

Abstract

The current work pioneers the synthesis of a novel composition of Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ba, Ce) perovskite electrode materials for supercapacitors through an innovative semi-green route using lemon powder as the bio-chelating agent. The synergy of biomolecules and organic citric acid in lemon powder resulted in minimal impurities and better crystallinity of the desired perovskite electrodes. XRD confirmed the cubic perovskite structure of all Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ba, Ce) perovskite electrodes synthesized through semi-green and chemical approaches. Notably, samples synthesized through a semi-green approach exhibited better crystallinity with no secondary phase. Microstructure analysis revealed dense and agglomerated morphology for all samples while EDX analysis confirmed the exact elemental composition with no prominent impurities. The FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of identical functional groups for samples synthesized with both routes. The electrochemical studies revealed the highest specific capacitance of 1176.36 Fg-1 for Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ce) synthesized through a semi-green route while Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ba) also depicted reasonable specific capacitance. The findings confirmed that not only novel perovskite composition Sr0.9X0.1CoO3-δ (X=Ba, Ce) can be successfully used for supercapacitor applications but innovative semi-green can also be employed for successful synthesis of perovskite materials with minimal ecological impact and impurities associated with conventional chemical and green synthesis routes, respectively.