Fabrication of various metal hexacyanoferrates@CNF through acid-regulation for high-performance supercapacitor with superior stability

Abstract

Prussian blue analogs, as a pseudo-capacitor electrode materials hold great potential due to their unique framework structure, excellent electrochemical activity and high specific capacity. Herein, a versatile method for the growth of series of metal hexacyanoferrates (MHCF) on carbon nanofiber with high conductivity and flexibility was proposed. By controlling the releasing rate of metal ions through acid modulation of solution, the series of MHCF nanocubes were successfully embedded on the carbon nanofibers with super stability. Different MHCF presented various loading density. Among the MHCFs, nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) is the most easily formed with high density and uniform distribution. The obtained self-supporting NiHCF@CNF, as a representative electrode, exhibited high specific capacitance (507 F g−1, 1 A g−1) and remarkable rate performance (67% retention at 10 A g−1). Moreover, the NiHCF@CNF-based hybrid supercapacitor cell delivered a high energy density of 60 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 810 W kg−1. Meanwhile, the capacitor showed extremely high stability due to tight anchoring of NiHCF on CNFs. This work provides a simple and versatile method to produce self-supporting MHCF@CNF composites for constructing high performance supercapacitor.