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Document Type
Undergraduate Research
Creation Date
Spring 4-8-2015
Department
Chemistry
Abstract
With increasing demand for energy and limited fossil source, there is urgency in developing high performance and stable materials for energy related applications. Albeit significant progress has been made in recent years developing of cost effective and better performing materials for energy conversion and storage applications, it still lags behind in meeting the global demand. In this work, we have developed materials which could be used as an electrode for flexible, portable and highly-efficient power sources. We have proposed a new breakthrough strategy to synthesize highly porous hierarchial flexible nanosheets of NiCo2O4-graphene oxide (NiCo2O4-GO) on nickel foam by a facile electrochemical deposition method. The morphogenesis of the NiCo2O4-GO hybrid nanostructure based electrode exhibits hierarchical porous flexible nanosheet-like structures. The electrochemical properties of these electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements in 3M KOH electrolyte. The obtained results exhibit that this new hybrid nanostructure has a specific capacitance of 1078 F/g at a discharge current of 1 mA with great cyclic stability. These excellent capacitive performances of NiCo2O4-GO can be attributed to its hierarchical porous nanosheet-like unique structure. This unique structure provides efficient ion transport that is highly desirable for superior rate capability and excellent cycling stability. Hence, our method provides a promising facile and binder-free nanostructure electrode for next generation high-performance super capacitor applications.
Note: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. EPS-0903806 and matching support from the State of Kansas through the Kansas Board of Regents.