Assembly of Co3S4 nanoporous structure on Ni foam for binder-free high-performance supercapacitor electrode

A facile method was proposed to synthesize a Co3S4-based binder-free electrode (Co3S4/Ni foam) in an aqueous solution containing 1-thioglycerol, cobalt nitrate, and sodium thiosulfate at 60 celcius, followed by calcination at 400 celcius. The Co3S4 membrane on Ni foam consists of spherical and elliptical nanoparticles, which were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical investigation of the Co3S4/Ni foam electrode with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) exhibits high areal capacitance (7.32 F cm(-2) at 10 mA cm(-2)) and ultra-long cycling life (capacitance retention of 75% after 5000 charge/discharge cycles). The asymmetric supercapacitor device (ASC) assembled with Co3S4/Ni foam and activated carbon (AC) as positive and negative electrodes presents excellent electrochemical performances, suggesting the great application prospect of Co3S4/Ni foam.