Uniform generation of NiCo2S4 with 3D honeycomb-like network structure on carbon cloth as advanced electrode materials for flexible supercapacitors

Taiwei Liu; Yiwei Zheng; Wei Zhao; Liang Cui; Jingquan Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.08.094

Uniform generation of NiCo₂S₄ with 3D honeycomb-like network structure on carbon cloth as advanced electrode materials for flexible supercapacitors

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Nov 15:556:743-752. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.08.094. Epub 2019 Aug 26.

Authors

Taiwei Liu¹, Yiwei Zheng¹, Wei Zhao¹, Liang Cui², Jingquan Liu³

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute for Graphene Applied Technology Innovation, Collaborative Innovation Center for Marine Biomass Fibers Materials and Textiles of Shandong Province, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong, China. Electronic address: cuiliang@lyu.edu.cn.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute for Graphene Applied Technology Innovation, Collaborative Innovation Center for Marine Biomass Fibers Materials and Textiles of Shandong Province, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. Electronic address: jliu@qdu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31513937
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.08.094

Abstract

Direct generation of active materials on carbon cloth (CC) is regarded as an efficient and convenient means to obtain flexible electrodes with high supercapacitor performance. However, uniform generation of active materials on the both sides of CC remains a great challenge. Herein, a facile hanging-hydrothermal method was used to directly generate uniform NiCo₂S₄ nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth (NiCo₂S₄/CC), which was then utilized as the positive electrode for flexible supercapacitors. Taking advantage of the unique and uniform honeycomb-like structure of NiCo₂S₄ nanosheets, the obtained NiCo₂S₄/CC electrode can deliver an excellent specific capacitance (1638 F g^-1 at 1 A g^-1), which is significantly higher than NiCo₂O₄/CC electrode (657.4 F g^-1 at 1 A g^-1). A two-electrode flexible supercapacitor was assembled using NiCo₂S₄/CC as positive electrode and carbon cloth coated with activated carbon as negative electrode and revealed a high energy density of 25.2 Wh kg^-1 at a power density of 799.6 W kg^-1, highlighting its great potential for flexible supercapacitor applications.

Keywords: Carbon cloth; Flexible supercapacitor; Hanging-hydrothermal method; NiCo(2)S(4) nanosheet arrays.