Flexible carbon cloth based solid-state supercapacitor from hierarchical holothurian-morphological NiCo2O4@NiMoO4/PANI

Abstract Based on carbon cloth, flexible solid-state supercapacitors from bimetal oxide arrays of NiCo2O4@NiMoO4 deposited by conductive polymers of polyaniline (PANI) are prepared employing a two-step hydrothermal reaction, followed by high-temperature annealing and an in-situ polymerization process. The presence of NiMoO4 nanoplates prepared on NiCo2O4 nanowhires leads to the hierarchical flower-like nanostructures. In order to further enhance the conductivity and wettability, NiCo2O4@NiMoO4 is coated by the three-dimensional networks of PANI nanorods by means of the in-situ polymerization of aniline, the obtained NiCo2O4@NiMoO4/PANI nanocomposites illustrate a specific hierarchical holothurian-like morphology, which facilitates the adsorption and penetration as well as the rapid transportation of electrolyte ions within the nanopores in the active electrode materials, resulting in excellent electrochemical performances. The specific areal capacitance of the flexible carbon cloth-based electrodes reaches 2.38 F cm−2 at current density 1.0 mA cm−2, and the capacitance retention is 92.36% of the initial value after 5000 cycles, which finds applications in flexible and wearable devices.