Assembly of Ni(OH)2-based electrodes without material synthesis step for application in supercapacitors

In this work, a facile material synthesis step-free strategy for the cost-effective assembly of Ni(OH)(2)-based electrodes was reported. The Ni(OH)(2)/MWCNTs composite electrodes for application in supercapacitors were assembled through the in-situ reaction of NiCl(2)Ic6H(2)O in nickel foam as current collector with alkaline electrolyte. The characterization results indicated that NiCl(2)Ic6H(2)O as raw material in electrode underwent the phase transformation from NiCl(2)Ic6H(2)O to beta-Ni(OH)(2) in electrolyte solution. The produced beta-Ni(OH)(2) presented the same phase and same sheet morphology with thin thickness before and after electrochemical measurement. Based on the results of electrochemical measurement, 20 wt% was determined as the optimum content of MWCNTs for the assembly of electrodes. The as-assembled electrode with optimized content of MWCNTs exhibited high specific capacitance of 2001.4 F g(-1) at current density of 3.2 A g(-1). This electrochemical performance of electrode could be attributed to the 2D flexible sheet morphology of Ni(OH)(2) and the improvement of electric conductivity by MWCNTs. [GRAPHICS] .