Facile synthesis of 3D CuS micro-flowers grown on porous activated carbon derived from pomelo peel as electrode for high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

In this work, we have employed one-step solvothermal method to prepare CuS nanosheets based 3D micro-flowers grown on pomelo peel-derived porous activated carbon (PPAC) as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors. The results show that the addition of porous PPAC materials activated by KOH solution can greatly affect the morphology and electrochemical performance of CuS/PPAC composites. As expected, as-prepared CSPC-2 based electrode possesses higher specific capacitance (954.0 F g−1) compared with pure CuS (579.2 F g−1) and porous PPAC-3 (329.6 F g−1) based electrodes at a current density of 1.0 A g−1. In addition, as-prepared CSPC-2 based electrode exhibits outstanding rate capacity (954.0 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 and 519.6 F g−1 at 9.0 A g−1) and excellent cyclic stability (81.99% capacitance retention at 7.0 A g−1 after 5000 continuous charge/discharge cycles). The results above illustrate that as-prepared CuS/PPAC composite is a suitable candidate for electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors.