Fluorinated graphene-supported Nickel-Cobalt-Iron nitride nanoparticles as a promising hybrid electrode for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

Developing nanostructure hybrid electrode with multiple electroactive sites offer an encouraging path to build high-performance supercapacitors (SCs). Herein, we report fluorinated graphene (FG) -supported Nickel-Cobalt-Iron nitride nanoparticles on nickel foam (NCF-N@FG/NF), as a hybrid SCs electrode. They were fabricated via one-step nitrogenization treatment in NH3 atmosphere at different temperatures 300–500 °C of the corresponding Ni-Co-Fe-tri-hydroxide/FG precursors. The optimal NCF-N@FG/NF hybrid, with Fe:Co:Ni 3:1:1(denoted as NCF-N@FG/NF-3/500 °C) yielded specific capacitance (capacity) of 2110 F/g (293.1 mAh/g) at 1 A/g, rate capability of 87.2% at 20 A/g, and capacitance retention of 97.6% after 5000 cycles. Asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device was set up using NCF-N@FG/NF-3/500 °C hybrid as the cathode and activated carbon supported NF (AC@NF) as the anode (denoted as NCF-N@FG/NF-3/500 °C/CKK membrane/AC@NF). The device exhibited a stable potential window of 1.5 V and excellent cycling stability with only 11.5% decrease of capacitance after 10 000 cycles. Also, it achieved an energy density of 56.3 Wh/kg at 0.5 A/g with a power density of 374.6 W/kg. The device retained an energy density of 39.5 Wh/kg at 10 A/g with a power density of 7484.2 W/kg. This work constitutes the first demonstration of using FG supported tri-metallic nitride nanoparticles as high energy Cathode, which could potentially enhance the energy storage performance of ASC devices.