Synthesis of shish-kebab-like NiO@Co3O4 nanowire arrays and their application for electrochemical energy storage

•Shish-kebab-like NiO@Co3O4 nanowire arrays are synthesized by hydrothermal methods.•NiO@Co3O4 nanowires show enhanced electrochemical performance with higher capacity.•Binary hetero-structured arrays provide larger active surface area for reactions.

Multicomponent hetero-structured metal oxide arrays are playing important roles in the development of advanced optical and electrochemical devices. Herein, we report shish-kebab-like NiO@Co3O4 nanowire arrays by a simple two-step hydrothermal method. Interestingly, lots of hexagonal NiO nanoflakes are randomly assembled on the preformed Co3O4 nanowire arrays forming a shish-kebab-like architecture. As cathode of alkaline battery, the as-prepared NiO@Co3O4 nanowire arrays exhibit a specific capacity of 89 mAh g−1 at 1.25 A g−1 and 75 mAh g−1 at 20 A g−1, respectively. The unique architecture provides higher reaction surface area resulting in higher capacity.

Graphical abstractSelf-supported shish-kebab-like NiO@Co3O4 nanowire arrays are synthesized via a two-step hydrothermal method and exhibit a noticeable electrochemical performance as cathode of alkaline battery.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide