Supercapacitors based on microporous β-Ni(OH)2 nanorods

One-Dimensional NiSe-Se Hollow Nanotubular Architecture as a Binder-Free Cathode with Enhanced Redox Reactions for High-Performance Hybrid Supercapacitors

Selenium-enriched nickel selenide (NiSe-Se) nanotubes supported on highly conductive nickel foam (NiSe-Se@Ni foam) were synthesized using chemical bath deposition with the aid of lithium chloride as a shape-directing agent. The uniformly grown NiSe-Se@Ni foam, with its large number of electroactive sites, facilitated rapid diffusion and charge transport. The NiSe-Se@Ni foam electrode exhibited a superior specific capacitance value of 2447.46 F g^-1 at a current density value of 1 A g^-1 in 1 M aqueous KOH electrolyte. Furthermore, a high-energy-density pouch-type hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) device was fabricated using the proposed NiSe-Se@Ni foam as the positive electrode, activated carbon on Ni foam as the negative electrode, and a filter paper separator soaked in 1 M KOH electrolyte solution. The HSC delivered a specific capacitance of 84.10 F g^-1 at a current density of 4 mA cm^-2 with an energy density of 29.90 W h kg^-1 at a power density of 594.46 W kg^-1 for an extended operating voltage window of 1.6 V. In addition, the HSC exhibited excellent cycling stability with a capacitance retention of 95.09% after 10,000 cycles, highlighting its excellent potential for use in the hands-on applications. The real-life practicality of the HSC was tested by using it to power a red light-emitting diode.

Nickel hydroxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposites as supercapacitor electrodes: crystallinity dependent performances

Nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) is a promising pseudocapacitive material to increase the energy storage capacity of supercapacitors. Ni(OH)2 has three common crystalline structures: amorphous (amor-), α-, and β-Ni(OH)2. There is a lack of good understanding on their pros and cons as supercapacitor electrodes. In this work, we synthesized three nanocomposites with thin layers (10-15 nm) of amor-, α-, and β-Ni(OH)2 deposited on conductive multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The mass loading of Ni(OH)2 is analogous in these nanocomposites, ranging from 49.1-52.2 wt% with a comparable narrow-pore size distribution centered around 4-5 nm. They were fabricated into supercapacitor electrodes at a mass loading of 6 mg cm(-2) with a thickness of ∼250 μm, similar to the electrodes used in commercial supercapacitors. Our results show that MWCNT/amor-Ni(OH)2 has the highest specific capacitance (1495 or 2984 F g(-1), based on the mass of total active materials or Ni(OH)2 only at the scan rate of 5 mV s(-1) in 1 M KOH electrolyte). It also has the best rate capability among the three nanocomposites. Better performances can be attributed to its disordered structure, which increases its effective surface area and reduces diffusion resistance for redox reactions. However, superior performances gradually deteriorate to the same level as that of MWCNT/β-Ni(OH)2 over 3000 charge/discharge cycles, because amor- and α-Ni(OH)2 transform slowly to more ordered β-Ni(OH)2. Our results highlight that the electrochemical performances of MWCNT/Ni(OH)2 nanocomposites depend on the crystallinity of Ni(OH)2, and the performances of electrodes change upon the crystalline structure transformation of Ni(OH)2 under repeated redox reactions. Future research should focus on improving the structure stability of amor-Ni(OH)2.