Morphological Impact of Perovskite-Structured Lanthanum Cobalt Oxide (LaCoO₃) Nanoflakes Toward Supercapacitor Applications

In this study, perovskite-structured lanthanum cobalt oxide (LaCoO3/LCO) systems with particle and flake morphologies were developed using sol-gel and hydrothermal methods, respectively, in order to investigate their morphological structure-dependent properties for potential supercapacitor applications. The structural analysis confirms that both methods yield LaCoO3 with improved crystalline properties. The energy storage performance of the developed materials is studied in a three-electrode configuration using a 1 M KOH electrolyte. The results indicated superior electrochemical performance for the LCO nanoflakes, exhibiting specific capacitances of similar to 215 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 5 mV s(-1) and similar to 136 F g(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1). In comparison, the LCO nanoparticles showed similar to 119 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 5 mV s(-1) and similar to 99 F g(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1). This difference can be largely attributed to their respective morphologies, porous structures, and surface defects. Further, the nanoflakes demonstrated an exceptional capacitance retention of similar to 97% even after 5000 charge-discharge cycles. The findings of this study suggest that the properties of perovskite LaCoO3 can be tuned by adjusting its morphology through various synthesis methods, making LaCoO3 a viable and robust system for energy storage applications.