Manganese doping to boost the capacitance performance of hierarchical Co9S8@Co(OH)2 nanosheet arrays

Transition metal sulfides (TMSs) have been regarded as greatly promising electrode materials for supercapacitors because of abundant redox electroactive sites and outstanding conductivity. Herein, we report a self-supported hierarchical Mn doped Co9S8@Co(OH)2 nanosheet arrays on nickel foam (NF) substrate by a one-step metal–organic-framework (MOF) engaged approach and a subsequent sulfurization process. Experimental results reveal that the introduction of manganese endows improved electric conductivity, enlarged electrochemical specific surface area, adjusted electronic structure of Co9S8@Co(OH)2 and enhanced interfacial activities as well as facilitated reaction kinetics of electrodes. The optimal Mn doped Co9S8@Co(OH)2 electrode exhibits an ultrahigh specific capacitance of 3745 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 (5.618 F cm−2 at 1.5 mA cm−2) and sustains 1710 F g−1 at 30 A g−1 (2.565 F cm−2 at 45 mA cm−2), surpassing most reported values on TMSs. Moreover, a battery-type asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device is constructed, which delivers high energy density of 50.2 Wh kg−1 at power density of 800 W kg−1, and outstanding long-term cycling stability (94% capacitance retention after 8000 cycles). The encouraging results might offer an effective strategy to optimize the TMSs for energy-storage devices.