A novel dual-tasking hollow cube NiFe2O4-NiCo-LDH@rGO hierarchical material for high preformance supercapacitor and glucose sensor

Dawei Chu; Fengbo Li; Xiumei Song; Huiyuan Ma; Lichao Tan; Haijun Pang; Xinming Wang; Dongxuan Guo; Boxin Xiao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.012

A novel dual-tasking hollow cube NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO hierarchical material for high preformance supercapacitor and glucose sensor

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 May 15:568:130-138. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.012. Epub 2020 Feb 10.

Authors

Dawei Chu¹, Fengbo Li¹, Xiumei Song², Huiyuan Ma³, Lichao Tan⁴, Haijun Pang¹, Xinming Wang¹, Dongxuan Guo¹, Boxin Xiao¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150040, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150040, China. Electronic address: mahy017@163.com.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150040, China. Electronic address: tanlcking@163.com.

PMID: 32088443
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.02.012

Abstract

Binary transition metal oxides as electroactive materials have continuously aroused grumous attention due to their high theoretical specific capacitance, high valtage window, and multiple oxidation states. However, the tiny specific surface area, poor conductivity and unsatisfactory cycle stability limit their practical application. Hence, a synthetic strategy is designed to fabricate a dual-tasking hollow cube nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄) - based composite (NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO) with hierarchical structure. The composite is constructed by firstly preparing hollow NiFe₂O₄ from cube-like Ni - Fe bimetallic organic framework (NiFe-MOF), and then integrating nickel cobalt layered double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) nanowires, together with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via pyrolysis in conjuction with hydrothermal method. The NiFe₂O₄ possessing cubic hollow structure contributes to a huge accessible surface area, meanwhile alleviates large volume expansion/contraction effect, which facilitates suffcient permeation of the electrolyte and rapid ion/charge transport, and results in high cycling stability. The introduction of layered NiCo-LDH results in hierarchical structure and thus offers maximum contact areas with electrolyte, which heightens the specific capacitance of obtained composite and enhances the electro-catlytic activity towards oxidation of glucose. Furthermore, rGO layer greatly improves the electrical conductivity and ion diffusion/transport capability of composite. Benefiting from the unique structure and individual components of NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO composite, the electrode delivers a high specific capacitance (750 C g^-1) and superb durability. Simultaneously, the asymmetrical device based on NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO as positive electrode delivers remarkable energy density (50 Wh kg^-1). Moreover, NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO exhibits good sensing performance with a sensitivity of 111.86 µA/µM cm^-2, the wide linear range of 3.500 × 10^-5 - 4.525 × 10^-3 M, and the detection limit of 12.94 × 10^-6 M with a signal to noise ratio of 3. Consequently, the NiFe₂O₄-NiCo-LDH@rGO could provide a prospective notion constructing bifunctional materials with hollow-cube hierarchical structure in the field of supercapacitors and electrochemical sensors.

Keywords: Bifunctional materials; Binary transition-MOFs; Hollow hierarchical structural; Sensor; Supercapacitor.