In this paper, a facile and rapid aqueous-based electrochemical technique was used for the phase conversion of Ni into Ni(OH)2 thin film. The Ni(OH)2 thin film was directly converted and coated onto the network surface of Ni foam (NF) via the self-hydroxylation process under alkaline conditions using a simple cyclic voltammetry (CV) strategy. The as-formed and coated Ni(OH)2 thin film on the NF was used as the catalyst layer for the direct growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The self-converted Ni(OH)2 thin film is a good catalytic layer for the growth of CNTs due to the fact that the OH- of the Ni(OH)2 can be reduced to H2O to promote the growth of CNTs during the CVD process, and therefore enabling the dense and uniform CNTs growth on the NF substrate. This binder-free CNTs/NF electrode displayed outstanding behavior as an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) due to the large surface area of the CNTs, showing excellent specific capacitance values of 737.4 mF cm-2 in the three-electrode configuration and 319.1 mF cm-2 in the two-electrode configuration, at the current density of 1 mA cm-2 in a 6 M KOH electrolyte. The CNTs/NF electrode also displayed good cycling stability, with a capacitance retention of 96.41% after 10,000 cycles, and this the excellent cycling performance can be attributed to the stable structure of the direct growth of CNTs with a strong attachment to the NF current collector, ensuring a good mechanical and electrical connection between the NF collector and the CNTs.
Keywords: CNTs; EDLC; Ni(OH)2; cyclic voltammetry; supercapacitors.