Self-assembled dandelion-like NiS nanowires on biomass-based carbon aerogels as electrode material for hybrid supercapacitors

Abstract

Carbon aerogels derived from biomass have low specific capacity due to the underutilized structure, limiting their application in high-performance supercapacitors. In this work, the hierarchical nickel sulfide/carbon aerogels from liquefied wood (LWCA-NiS) were synthesized via a simple two-step hydrothermal method. Benefitting from the unique 3D coral-like network structure of LWCA, self-assembled NiS nanowires with the dandelion-like structure showed high specific surface (389.1 m²·g⁻¹) and hierarchical pore structure, which increased affluent exposure of numerous active sites and structural stability, causing superior energy storage performance. As expected, LWCA-NiS displayed high specific capacity (131.5 mAh·g⁻¹ at 1 A·g⁻¹), good rate performance, and highly reversible and excellent cycle stability (13.1% capacity fading after 5000 cycles) in the electrochemical test. Furthermore, a symmetrical supercapacitor using LWCA-NiS-10 as the electrode material delivered an energy density of 12.7 Wh·kg⁻¹ at 299.85 W·kg⁻¹. Therefore, the synthesized LWCA-NiS composite was an economical and sustainable candidate for the electrodes of high-performance supercapacitors.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

carbon aerogel / liquefied wood / NiS / self-assembly / electrochemistry

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interests

The authors declare that no conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and this manuscript is approved by all authors for publication.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31870564). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Electronic supplementary information

Supplementary materials can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-023-0652-x, which include Figs. S1‒S3 and Tables S1–S2.

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