Investigating metal-organic framework as a new pseudo-capacitive material for supercapacitors

Abstract A new application of metal organic framework (MOF) as a pseudo-capacitive material for supercapacitors is investigated. To this end, a simple nickel-based MOF, formulated Ni3(btc)2·12H2O, is synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction. As an electro-active material, such nickel-based MOF exhibits superior pseudo-capacitive behavior in KOH aqueous electrolyte with a high specific capacitance of 726 F g−1. Also, it displays good electrochemical stability with 94.6% of the initial capacitance over consecutive 1000 cycles. In addition, a simple asymmetric supercapacitor with a high energy density of 16.5 Wh kg−1 is successfully built using the nickel-based MOF as positive electrode and commercial activated carbon as negative electrode in KOH electrolyte.