Three-dimensional flower-like nickel doped cobalt phosphate hydrate microarchitectures for asymmetric supercapacitors

Abstract Development of asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) using hierarchical three-dimensional (3D) morphologies is becoming crucial in energy storage applications due to the greater power density rather than batteries. Herein, 3D flower-like Co3(PO4)2·8H2O (CPH) and nickel doped CPH (Ni-CPH) microarchitectures were synthesized by a silicone oil bath method at low temperatures without calcination. The synthesized microarchitectures-based electrodes (bare CPH and Ni-CPH) revealed battery-like properties during the electrochemical study. Importantly, the Ni-CPH electrode showed improved electrochemical performance compared to the bare CPH electrode material. The specific capacity values of the CPH and Ni-CPH electrode materials were calculated to be 74 and 108 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, respectively. Furthermore, for the Ni-CPH electrode, 78% of capacity retention was obtained after 9000 cycles at 5 A g−1. Additionally, an ASC was developed while employing the optimized Ni-CPH electrode (positive-type) and activated carbon (negative-type) and it showed superior electrochemical results. The ASC device exhibited excellent capacity retention (94%) after 9000 cycles at 2 A g−1. Also, this device delivered a high energy density of 23.4 Wh kg−1 and a power density of 2103 W kg−1. Finally, several portable electronic devices were successfully tested using the obtained good energy and power density results from the ASC device for energy storage applications.