Fabrication of nickel-copper sulfide nanoparticles decorated on metal-organic framework composite for supercapacitor application by hydrothermal process

Abstract

Due to their flexible porous structure, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have a lot of potential as materials for making electrodes for next-generation supercapacitors. The current study is about making controlled syntheses of NiCuS and NiCuS@MOFs composites from nickel and copper precursors, as well as 2-MeI and BDC ligands using ultrasonication to help the hydrothermal process. The fabricated composite materials were characterized by Raman, XRD, FTIR, XPS, and HR-TEM analysis for confirmation of structural and morphological properties. The fabricated composite electrode showed excellent specific capacitance of 535 F g− 1 at 0.5 A/g (three electrode configuration) and 122 F g− 1 at 0.5 A/g (symmetric configuration) and cyclic retention (86.5 %) up to 8000 cycles in the presence of 1 M KOH electrolyte. Furthermore, the fabricated composite electrode (NiCuS@MOF-BDC/SSC) via two electrode configurations showed an energy density of E = 15.82 kh/kg and a power density of P = 9316 kW/kg and excellent cyclic stability and retention. The improved electrochemical performances of the electrode materials were due to the surface, morphological, porous nature, and synergistic effect of the composite structure via the ultrasonication-hydrothermal reaction process. Therefore, the fabricated composite samples were found to have great potential for electrochemical supercapacitor applications.