Optimization of Bi₂O₃ growth on carbon cloth surface via plasma activation for enhancing the capacitive performance of composite materials

Abstract Developing high-performance carbon materials and transition metal oxide composites is significant for advancing supercapacitors. In this study, we adopt a novel approach by etching numerous micropores onto the surface of carbon cloth using plasma activation technology, thereby providing growth sites for Bi 2 O 3 nanoparticles during the solvothermal process. This approach enables the preparation of Bi 2 O 3 @PCC composites with uniformly distributed Bi 2 O 3 nanoparticles, yielding electrodes that exhibit excellent rate performance and high areal capacitance. Under a 1 mA cm −2 current density, the area-specific capacitance reaches 3279.7 mF cm −2 . As the current density increases to 20 mA cm −2 , the capacitance retains 61.3% of its value. In contrast, the Bi 2 O 3 @CC composite material without plasma treatment exhibits relatively lower specific capacitance and retention, with values of 1762.2 mF cm −2 and 35.4%, respectively. Thus, it can be concluded that the performance of the composite material Bi 2 O 3 @PCC has significantly improved compared to that prepared with untreated carbon cloth. This research presents an innovative method for preparing high-performance carbon material and transition metal oxide composites for supercapacitor applications, offering promising results that suggest a bright future for the advancing supercapacitor technology.