Construction of NiO/MnO2/CeO2 hybrid nanoflake arrays as platform for electrochemical energy storage

Abstract

Rational design and fabrication of novel electrode materials are of great importance for developing supercapacitors with remarkable capacitance and enhanced cycling stability. In this paper, we present a simple one-pot hydrothermal deposition followed by calcinations process for the in situ construction of homogeneous NiO/MnO2/CeO2 (NMC) nanoflake arrays on Ni foam substrate, which could be directly adopted as the binder-free electrode materials for high performance supercapacitors. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) are carried out to investigate the morphology, microstructure and composition of NMC nanoflake arrays. As-prepared hierarchical NMC nanoflake arrays exhibit the specific capacitance of 1027.8 F g−1 at a current density of 3.1 A g−1 and excellent cycling stability of 97.8% after 5000 charge/discharge cycles. This facile, cost-effective and controllable fabrication route and the robust supercapacitive activity suggest that the ordered NMC nanoflake arrays could be promising candidate electrode materials for high performance electrochemical energy storage devices.