Design and fabrication of NiFe₂O₄/few-layers WS₂ composite for supercapacitor electrode material

Abstract

Few-layers WS₂ was obtained through unique chemical liquid exfoliation of commercial WS₂. Results showed that after the exfoliation process, the thickness of WS₂ reduced significantly. Moreover, the NiFe₂O₄ nanosheets/WS₂ composite was successfully synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method at 180 °C, and then proven by the analyses of field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The composite showed a high specific surface area of 86.89 m²·g⁻¹ with an average pore size of 3.13 nm. Besides, in the three-electrode electrochemical test, this composite exhibited a high specific capacitance of 878.04 F·g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A·g⁻¹, while in the two-electrode system, the energy density of the composite could reach 25.47 Wh·kg⁻¹ at the power density of 70 W·kg⁻¹ and maintained 13.42 Wh·kg⁻¹ at the higher power density of 7000 W·kg⁻¹. All the excellent electrochemical performances demonstrate that the NiFe₂O₄ nanosheets/WS₂ composite is an excellent candidate for supercapacitor applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

WS₂ / chemical liquid exfoliation / NiFe₂O₄ / composite / supercapacitor

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Declaration of competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Major Basic Research Projects of Shandong Natural Science Foundation (ZR2018ZB0104), Science and Technology Development Project of Shandong Province (2016GGX102003 and 2017GGX20105), and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2017BEM032).

Electronic supplementary information

Supplementary materials can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-023-0656-6 and https://journal.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-023-0656-6, which include Figs. S1‒S5.

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