Preparation, characterization and electrochemical properties of porous NiO/NPC composite nanosheets

•Crystallized porous NiO/NPC nanocomposite materials were successfully synthesized.•The NiO/NPC has high specific surface, large pore volumes and suitable pore sizes.•Stable high capacitance and rate performance were found for the NiO/NPC materials.•The effect of nanoporous carbon was studied deeply for preparation of the NiO/NPC.•The structure of NiO/NPC may be adjusted by adding the NPC in the synthetic process.

We present a facile combined hydrothermal and calcination method to prepare porous nickel oxide/nanoporous carbon (NiO/NPC) composite nanosheets. The material is characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), as well as N2 sorption analyses. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests are performed and indicate that the NiO/NPC possesses superior pseudocapacitive performance with the specific capacitance value of 1337 F g−1 at the current density of 2 A g−1 using as the electrode material. The specific capacitance value of 457 A g−1 can be obtained at the high current density of 10 A g−1 showing its high rate performance. The material exhibits good cycling stability by retaining 95% of the max capacitance after 500 cycles of continuous charge–discharge processes. Adding NPC in the synthetic process not only changes the elemental composition, but also leads to more Ni3+ ions and abundant pores in the texture of the NiO/NPC material, which provides high electron conductivity and fast ion transport, enhances the rate performance of the NiO/NPC electrode, and stabilizes the active material.

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