Novel and flexible asymmetric supercapacitors based on NiCo2O4 nanosheets coated on Al and Cu tapes for wearable devices applications

Abstract

The binary metal oxides show advantages in energy storage devices. Specifically, nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4) materials showed promising pseudocapacitive properties, high electrical conductivity and large surface area by virtue of their effective porous structure. NiCo2O4 nanosheets were hydrothermally grown in this work over flexible tapes of Aluminum (Al) and Copper (Cu). A nanosheets structure obtained of NiCo2O4 as confirmed by SEM and AFM images. The measured thickness by 3D profilometer of NiCo2O4 nanosheets based Al framework found to be 4.3 µm compared to 8.4 µm thick of film based-Cu framework. Asymmetric supercapacitor prepared from graphite and NiCo2O4 electrodes separated by filter paper. Acidic aqueous electrolyte of H2SO4 and basic aqueous electrolyte of KOH were employed to verify the cyclic activity and electrochemical reaction of asymmetric prepared supercapacitor devices. The basic KOH electrolyte shows a high stability and better charge transfer/ionic diffusion compared to the acidic H2SO4 electrolyte in particular for NiCo2O4 film-based Cu framework. The energy density and power density values were 0.9 W h kg−1 and 66.45 W kg−1, respectively. The highest specific capacity (in F.g−1) = 10.09 coincides with NiCo2O4/Cu supercapacitor in the basic KOH electrolyte. The charge storage in the supercapacitor system of NiCo2O4 and graphite can be ascribed in the form of Faradic charge transfer and capacitive non-faradic double layer, respectively.