Cobalt oxyhydroxide (CoOOH) nanorods were synthesized by fast hydrothermal process for supercapacitor electrodes. The structural and morphological studies revealed the formation of CoOOH with hexagonal rhomb-centered crystal structure and excellent rod like morphology of similar to 5-10 nm diameter. The electrochemical characterization was performed for both half cell and symmetric full cell configuration using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge test and impedance spectroscopy in 3 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The fabricated CoOOH electrodes showed maximum specific capacitance value of 198 F g(-1) for a half cell and 94 F g(-1) for a symmetric capacitor of 10 mg cm(-2) active material per electrode and showed better energy and power densities. Moreover, the CoOOH electrode exhibits good capacitance retention (83%) after 5000 charge/discharge cycles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.