Novel and efficient hybrid supercapacitor of chemically synthesized quaternary 3D nanoflower-like NiCuCo2S4 electrode

Abstract

In this work, we employed a simple and cost-effective chemical route to obtain a highly stable and efficient quaternary mesoporous 3D nanoflower-like NiCuCo2S4 nanocomposite for supercapacitor applications. The NiCuCo2S4 composite exhibited a mixture of NiCo2S4 and CuCo2S4 phases, confirming the formation a quaternary NiCuCo2S4 thin film. A surface morphological analysis revealed the unique nanoflower-like nanostructure of the annealed composite. The electrochemical analysis of the NiCuCo2S4 electrode demonstrated a high specific capacity (Cs) of 414 mAh g-1 at a lower scan rate of 10 mV s-1 and a superior cycling stability up to 3000 cycles. A solid-state hybrid supercapacitor (SHS) was also constructed by the NiCuCo2S4 and AC powder as positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The NiCuCo2S4//AC hybrid cell produced a high Cs, energy density, and power density of 159 F g-1, 35.19 Wh kg- 1, and 0.66 kW kg- 1, respectively at a current density of 10 mA with good cycling stability. The results demonstrated that the fabrication process is effective for the development of a novel quaternary transition metal sulfide (TMS) electrode.