Synthesis of hierarchical porous Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 /g-C3 N4 composite for supercapacitor with excellent cycle stability

Abstract

In this work, the hierarchical porous Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 /g-C3 N4 composite was prepared by growing Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4) nanosheets via a hydrothermal route. Due to the self-assembly of larger size g-C3 N4 nanosheets as a skeleton, the prepared nanocomposite possesses a unique hierarchical porous structure that can provide short ions diffusion and fast electron transport. As a result, the Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 /g-C3 N4 composite exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1827 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, which is 1.53 times that of pure Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 (1191 F g−1). In particular, the Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 /g-C3 N4 //activated carbon (AC) asymmetric supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 49.0 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 799.0 W kg−1. Moreover, the assembled device shows outstanding cycle stability with 95.5% capacitance retention after 8000 cycles at a high current density of 10 A g−1. The attractive performance indicates that the easily synthesized and low-cost Ni1.5 Co1.5 S4 /g-C3 N4 composite would be a promising electrode material for supercapacitor application.