Construction of nickel cobalt sulfide nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth for performance-enhanced supercapacitor

Abstract

Materials featured with self-supported three-dimensional network, hierarchical pores and rich electrochemical active sites are considered as promising electrodes for pseudocapacitors. Herein, a novel strategy for the growth of nickel-cobalt bisulfide (NiCoS) nanosheets arrays on carbon cloth (CC) as supercapacitor electrodes is reported, involving deposition of two-dimensional metal-organic framework (MOF) precursors on the CC skeletons, conversion of MOF into nickel-cobalt layered double-hydroxide by ion exchange process and formation of NiCoS by a sulfidation treatment. The NiCoS nanosheets with rough surface and porous structures are uniformly anchored on the CC skeletons. The unique architecture endows the composite (NiCoS/CC) with abundant accessible active sites. Besides, robust electrical/mechanical joint between the nanosheets and the substrates is attained, leading to the improved electrochemical performance. Moreover, an asymmetric supercapacitor device is constructed by using NiCoS/CC and activated carbon as a positive electrode and a negative electrode, respectively. The optimized device exhibits a high specific capacitance, large energy density and long cycle life. The NiCoS/CC electrode with intriguing electrochemical properties and mechanical flexibility holds great prospect for next-generation wearable devices.