Nickel nanopore arrays as promising current collectors for constructing solid-state supercapacitors with ultrahigh rate performance

Abstract

In this work, nickel nanopore arrays with a highly-oriented nanoporous structure inherited from porous alumina membranes were used as nanostructured current collectors for constructing ultrahigh rate solid-state supercapacitors. A thin layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as electroactive materials was conformally coated onto nickel nanopores to form heterostructured electrodes. The as-prepared electrodes have a large specific surface area to ensure a high capacity, and the highly-oriented nanoporous structure of nickel nanopores reduces the ion transport resistance, allowing the ions in the solid-state electrolytes to quickly access the PEDOT surface during the fast charge-discharge process. As a result, the assembled solid-state supercapacitor in a symmetric configuration exhibits an ideal capacitive behavior and a superior rate capability even at an ultrahigh scan rate of 50 V·s⁻¹.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

supercapacitor / ultrahigh rate / metallic nanopore arrays / current collectors / PEDOT

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (Three Dsurface: 240144), European Research Council (HiNaPc: 737616), BMBF (ZIK-3DNanoDevice: 03Z1MN11), BMBF (Meta-ZIK-BioLithoMorphie: 03Z1M512), and German Research Foundation (DFG: LE 2249_4-1) for the financial support to this work.

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