Rational construction of NiCo2O4@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowire arrays for high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

Fe2O3 electrode materials exhibit excellent electrochemical performance in electrochemical energy storage system. However, its poor electrical conductivity limits its future practical application. The binder-free NiCo2O4@Fe2O3 composites was reasonably designed and fabricated on carbon fiber paper with NiCo2O4 nanowires as conductive scaffold in the present investigation. The three-dimensional nanostructure of the porous Fe2O3 nanorods coated the NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays showed the fascinating electrochemical performance, including high specific capacitance of 262 ​mF/cm2 at a current density of 1 ​mA/cm2, and remarkable cycle stability with ~74.2% capacitance retention after 4000 cycles. The excellent pseudocapacitance performance of NiCo2O4@Fe2O3 composite materials is due to synergistic effect between NiCo2O4 and Fe2O3. The results of the present work show that NiCo2O4@Fe2O3 core-shell composite electrode is expected to exhibit excellent performance in the field of supercapacitors.