Great improvement in pseudocapacitor properties of nickel hydroxide via simple gold deposition

Abstract

In this letter, we report a facile approach to improve the capacitor properties of nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)₂) by simply coating gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on the surface of Ni(OH)₂. Au NP-deposited Ni(OH)₂ (Au/Ni(OH)₂) has been prepared by application of a conventional colloidal coating of Au NPs on the surface of 3D-Ni(OH)₂ synthesized via a hydrothermal method. Compared with pristine Ni(OH)₂, Au/Ni(OH)₂ shows a 41% enhanced capacitance value, excellent rate capacitance behavior at high current density conditions, and greatly improved cycling stability for supercapacitor applications. The specific capacitance of Au/Ni(OH)₂ reached 1927 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, which is close to the theoretical capacitance and retained 66% and 80% of the maximum value at a high current density of 20 A g⁻¹ and 5000 cycles while that of pristine Ni(OH)₂ was 1363 F g⁻¹ and significantly decreased to 48% and 30%, respectively, under the same conditions. The outstanding performance of Au/Ni(OH)₂ as a supercapacitor is attributed to the presence of metal Au NPs on the surface of semiconductor Ni(OH)₂; this permits the creation of virtual 3D conducting networks via metal/semiconductor contact, which induces fast electron and ion transport by acting as a bridge between Ni(OH)₂ nanostructures, thus eventually leading to significantly improved electrochemical capacitive behaviors, as confirmed by the EIS and I–V characteristic data.