Hydrothermal Synthesis of Binder-Free Metallic NiCo2O4 Nano-Needles Supported on Carbon Cloth as an Advanced Electrode for Supercapacitor Applications

Qasim Abbas; Sajid Hussain Siyal; Abdul Mateen; Najam Ul Hassan; Asim Idrees; Zia Ur Rehman; ElSayed M Tag El Din; Majed A Bajaber; Muhammad Sufyan Javed

doi:10.3390/ma15134499

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Binder-Free Metallic NiCo₂O₄ Nano-Needles Supported on Carbon Cloth as an Advanced Electrode for Supercapacitor Applications

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jun 26;15(13):4499. doi: 10.3390/ma15134499.

Authors

Qasim Abbas¹, Sajid Hussain Siyal², Abdul Mateen³, Najam Ul Hassan⁴, Asim Idrees⁵, Zia Ur Rehman⁶, ElSayed M Tag El Din⁷, Majed A Bajaber⁸, Muhammad Sufyan Javed⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Intelligent Manufacturing, Yibin University, Yibin 644000, China.
² Metallurgy & Materials Engineering Department, Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials, Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁴ Department of Physics, Division of Science & Technology, University of Education, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Applied Sciences, National Textile University, Faisalabad 37610, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Hazara University, Mansehra 21120, Pakistan.
⁷ Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
⁸ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.

Abstract

It is of great significance to design electrochemical energy conversion and storage materials with excellent performance to fulfill the growing energy demand. Bimetallic cobalt/nickel-based electrode materials exhibit excellent electrical conductivity compared to mono oxides. However, their potential as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors (SCs) is limited because of their poor cycling stability and high-capacity fading. This work demonstrates the synthesis of binder-free bimetallic NiCo₂O₄ nano-needles supported on CC (NCO@CC) via a facile and scalable hydrothermal process. Excellent electrical conductivity and interconnected nanostructure of NCO@CC nano-needles provide the fast transfer of electrons with numerous channels for ion diffusion. Owing to such features, the binder-free NCO@CC electrode for SC discloses excellent specific capacitance (1476 Fg^-1 at 1.5 Ag^-1) with 94.25% capacitance retention even after 5000 cycles. From these outstanding electrochemical performances, it can be inferred that NCO@CC nano-needle array-structured electrodes may be potential candidates for SC applications.

Keywords: carbon cloth; nano-needle arrays; nickel–cobalt oxide; supercapacitor.

Grants and funding

This work was Supported by Supercomputing Center of Lanzhou University. M.A.B. express appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University Saudi Arabia through research groups program under grant number R.G.P. 2/196/43.