Ultrathin nickel hydroxide nanosheet arrays grafted biomass-derived honeycomb-like porous carbon with improved electrochemical performance as a supercapacitive material

Abstract

Abstract Three-dimensional hierarchical honeycomb-like activated porous carbon pillared ultrathin Ni(OH) 2 nanosheets (Ni(OH) 2 NSs@HAPC) for use as supercapacitor materials were facilely synthesized. With an aid of pine cone flowers as a biomass source, HAPC conducting scaffolds were prepared by the alkali treatment and pyrolysis methods under an inert gas atmosphere. Subsequently, the Ni(OH) 2 NSs were synthesized evenly on the surface of HAPC via a solvothermal method. The resulting HAPC and Ni(OH) 2 NSs@HAPC composite materials offered free pathways for effective diffusion of electrolyte ions and fast transportation of electrons when employed as an electrode material. The Ni(OH) 2 NSs@HAPC composite electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical properties including a relatively high specific capacitance (C sp ) value of ~ 916.4 F/g at 1 A/g with good cycling stability compared to the pristine HAPC and Ni(OH) 2 NSs electrodes. Such bio-friendly derived carbon-based materials with transition metal hydroxide/oxide composite materials could be a promising approach for high-performance energy storage devices because of their advantageous properties of cost effectiveness and easy availability.