3D hierarchical dandelion-like NiCo2O4/N-doped carbon/Ni foam for an effective binder-free supercapacitor electrode

In this work, the 3D hierarchical dandelion-like NiCo2O4/N-doped carbon/Ni foam has been developed by introducing PANI as the precursor of N-doped carbon. Meanwhile, the NiCo2O4/N-doped carbon/Ni foam with a novel 3D hierarchical dandelion-like structure was verified by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, etc. In addition, the NiCo2O4/N-doped carbon/Ni foam was directly used as a binder-free supercapacitor electrode and its performances were investigated by cycle voltammetry, galvanostatic charge discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the obtained NiCo2O4/N-doped carbon/Ni foam electrode owns good electrochemical performances, such as high specific capacitance (864 F/g at 1 A/g) and good cycling stability, owing to the porous feature from its novel 3D hierarchical dandelion-like structure. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.