Search

In this study, the partially sulfidized Ni-Co/reduced graphene oxide (NCS/NC/RGO) hybrid was developed as a supercapacitor electrode material. Because Ni-Co sulfide (NCS) possessed good pseudocapacitor property and non-sulfidized Ni-Co (NC) alloy had high conductivity, we attempted to optimize the electrochemical performance of NCS/NC/RGO hybrid by controlling the sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid. RGO was incorporated as a substrate to help the dispersion of NCS/NC nanoparticles and contribute some capacitance. It was demonstrated that an appropriate sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid could lead to the highest capacitance effectively. Moreover, the optimal NCS/NC/RGO hybrid also exhibited good stability. The result revealed that the strategy to optimize the capacitor performance of NCS/NC/RGO hybrid via the controlled sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid was indeed effective.

Porous cobalt sulfide (CoSx)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid films has been fabricated as a flexible freestanding supercapacitor electrode via the co-assembly and sulfidation of 2D metal organic framework (MOF) nanoflakes and graphene oxide (GO). Firstly, zeolitic imidazolate-67 (ZIF-67) nanocubes were added into the aqueous solution of GO to yield a mixed dispersion of ZIF-67 and GO (ZIF-GO). It was found that the morphology of ZIF-67 changed from nanocubes to 2D nanoflakes owing to the concentration change, which favored the formation of hybrid film. Secondly, the sandwich-like GO/ZIF-GO/GO hybrid film was fabricated by the successive vacuum membrane filtration of GO, ZIF-GO, and GO solutions. Finally, the hybrid film was sulfidized via a hydrothermal process using thioacetamide as the sulfur source. This process also led to the reduction of GO to rGO. The resulting rGO/CoSx-rGO/rGO hybrid film was shown to have good electrochemical performance because it combined the good pseudocapacitor property of cobalt sulfide as well as the good conductivity and electric double layer capacitor property of rGO. In addition, an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (aSC) was assembled using rGO/CoSx-rGO/rGO hybrid film and active carbon as the positive and negative electrodes, respectively. It exhibited an energy density of 10.56 Wh kg−1 and a power density of 2250 W kg−1. Also, it retained 92.8% of initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles. The good electrochemical performance revealed that the resulting aSC has great potential in the practical application of supercapacitors.

Three-dimensional (3D) nickel phosphide/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/nickel oxide composite on nickel foam (Ni2P/rGO/NiO/NF) is fabricated as a supercapacitor (SC) electrode material via the two-step electrochemical deposition of graphene oxide (GO) and nickel phosphide on the nickel foam. Typically, rGO/NiO/NF is fabricated at first by the electrochemical treatment of nickel foam at 10 V in 0.1 M sulfuric acid with GO for 10 min. The result reveals that NiO nanosheets are vertically grown on the surface of nickel foam and rGO is deposited on the surface of NiO/NF, leading to the enhancement of capacity. Secondly, nickel phosphide is electrochemically deposited on the surface of rGO/NiO/NF in the sodium hypophosphite-based aqueous solution at 10 mA cm-2 to yield the Ni2P/rGO/NiO/NF. The deposition of Ni2P leads to a much higher capacity. The optimal areal and mass specific capacities are obtained as 3.59 C cm-2 and 742 C g-1 at the electrochemical deposition time of 30 and 10 min, respectively. The high capacity reveals that the proposed two-step electrochemical fabrication process is facile and effective. In addition, the Ni2P/rGO/NiO/NF electrode-based all-solid-state asymmetric SC was fabricated and could successfully turn on a light-emitting diode light. This revealed its feasibility in practical application and confirmed that the resulting 3D Ni2P/rGO/NiO/NF has a great potential as the SC electrode material.