Highly Porous Carbon Materials Filled with Nickel Hydroxide Nanoparticles; Synthesis, Study, Application in Electrochemistry

Abstract

Nickel hydroxide was deposited on the surface of the porous carbon to obtain a cathode material for supercapacitors. This work is the first part of the study of Ni(OH)2/С composite, which considers the conditions of its synthesis using two types of porous carbon matrices with a highly developed specific surface area (1000–3000 m2/g) and two types of precursors (NiCl2*6H2O and Ni(N3)2). The morphology of the systems, in particular the shape and size characteristics of the hydroxide filler particles, was examined using the scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption at 77 K. The measurements of capacity of the Ni(OH)2/С-electrodes were made in 6 M KOH using an asymmetric two-electrode cell (a porous carbon material with known electrode characteristics was employed as the counter electrode). The capacity was shown to decrease by 22–56% with increasing the scanning rate from 10 to 80 mV/s. A maximum capacity of the composite was obtained at a scanning rate of 10 mV/s was 346 F/g.

Keywords

• Nickel hydroxide, porous carbon, composite, supercapacitor