NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays supported on Ni foam for high-performance flexible all-solid-state supercapacitors

Portable electronic devices which are ultrathin, lightweight and even able to roll-up have attracted much attention. Herein, we report the design of flexible all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitors by using two NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays supported on Ni foams as the electrodes. The as-fabricated symmetric supercapacitors have excellent electrochemical performance with a high cell areal capacitance of 161 mF cm−2 at 1 mA cm−2. Good electrochemical performance stability over 3000 cycles was obtained even when the device was under harsh mechanical conditions including both twisted and bent states. As-fabricated all-solid-state supercapacitors could be charged and power a commercial light-emitting-diode, demonstrating their feasibility as an efficient energy storage component and self-powered micro/nano-system. In addition, we were able to grow NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays on many kinds of flexible substrates, including nickel foam, carbon cloth, Ti foil and polytetrafluoroethylene tape. Our work here opens up opportunities for the device configuration for energy-storage devices in the future wearable electronic area and many other flexible, lightweight and high performance functional nanoscale devices.