Ultrafine nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide hierarchical nanowire networks for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes

•Ultrafine nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide nanowire on copper foam is synthesized.•The as-fabricated electrode exhibits significantly enhanced specific capacitance.•Excellent cycling stability according to 88% remained capacitance after 2000 cycles.

In this work, ultrafine nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide nanowire arrays on copper foam are synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method without any adscititious surfactant and binder. The fabricated nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide hierarchical nanowire networks electrodes for supercapacitors in aqueous electrolyte exhibit a significantly enhanced specific capacitance (971 F g−1 at 1 A g−1) and energy density (48.55 Wh kg−1 at 541 W kg−1). Meanwhile, the nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide hierarchical nanowire networks as electrode materials have excellent long-life cycling stability, retaining 91.5% of the initial capacitance after 2000 cycles. Thereby, the nickel–copper carbonate hydroxide hierarchical nanowire networks are promising electrode materials for high-energy-density long-life cycling supercapacitor application.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide