Cobalt sulfide flower-like derived from metal organic frameworks on nickel foam as an electrode for fabrication of asymmetric supercapacitors

Metal–organic frameworks, as a kind of advanced nanoporous materials with metal centers and organic linkers, have been applied as promising electrode materials in energy storage devices. In this study, we are successfully prepared cobalt sulfide nanosheets (CoS) derived from the metal–organic framework on nickel foam (NF). The prepared electrodes are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda and electrochemical methods like voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The CoS/NF electrode demonstrates a high specific capacity of 377.5 mA h g−1 (1359 C g−1) at the current density of 2 A g−1, considerable rate performance and excellent durability (89.4% after 4000 cycles). A hybrid supercapacitor is assembled using CoS/NF as the positive electrode and activated carbon as the negative electrode, it shows a high energy density of 57.4 W h kg−1 at a power density of 405.2 W kg−1. The electrochemical results suggest that the CoS nanosheet arrays would possess excellent potential for applications in energy storage devices.