Cobalt/nickel ions-assisted synthesis of laminated CuO nanospheres based on Cu(OH)2 nanorod arrays for high-performance supercapacitors

The development for environmentally friendly energy conversion and storage equipment has given rise to tremendous research efforts as a result of the growing requirements for environmental friendly resources and the rapid consumption of traditional fossil fuel. Herein, a novel hierarchical CoO/NiO–Cu@CuO heterostructure is successfully devised and synthesized. Cobalt/nickel ions are used to generate novel CoO/NiO-doped laminated CuO nanospheres through the facile in situ wet oxidation combined with cation exchange and calcination strategies. As a result, the electrochemical supercapacitance of the as-prepared CoO/NiO–Cu@CuO electrode can reach 875 C cm–2 (2035 mF cm–2), which exhibits much better electrochemical performance compared to other precursor electrodes at a same current density of 2 mA cm–2. Moreover, an excellent rate capacity of 1395 mF cm–2 (50 mA cm–2) can be achieved when measured at a relative high current density; 90.3% of the initial supercapacitance remains even after 5000 cycles. Furthermore, the as-prepared hierarchical hybrid of laminated CoO/NiO–CuO nanospheres in situ generated on three-dimensional (3D) porous Cu foam is applied to prepare a solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor equipment unit. The fabricated equipment unit shows an energy density of 69.3 W h kg–1 at a power density of 1080 W kg–1. Additionally, the commercially applied 2.5 V light-emitting-diode indicator with blue light can be energized for 4 min when two as-fabricated supercapacitor devices are in series connection. The unique hierarchical heterostructure of the novel laminated nanospheres combined with the 3D grid structure brings about the outstanding electrochemical capacitor performances. This strategy for the fabrication of hierarchical heterostructure electrodes could have an enormous potential for high-performance electrochemical equipment.