Synthesis and electrochemical performance of mesoporous nickel oxide using mixed surfactant template

Abstract

Nickel oxide is an environment-friendly transition metal oxide with relatively low cost and a kind of excellent electrode materials for supercapacitor. High surface area with favourable porosity can facilitate the electrochemical performance of NiO. Mesoporous nickel oxide was synthesised by a hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation method in this research, using mixed anionic/non-ionic surfactant as template. The influence of mixing ratio of the two constituents in the mixed surfactant was investigated. The prepared NiO samples were characterised by N2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and high-resolution transmission electron microscope measurements. Also, the electrochemical performances of the NiO electrode were determined by cyclic voltammetry at different scan rate and chronopotentiometry at different current density. The results showed that the prepared NiO had mesoporous structure and high specific surface area while the electrochemical performances exhibited high redox capacity, good cycle stability and great rate capability.