Ni(OH)2 nanosheets grown on graphene-coated nickel foam for high-performance pseudocapacitors

This paper reports a new two-step approach for growing hybrid Ni(OH)(2)/graphene structure on nickel foam for the first time. Firstly, graphene was synthesized on nickel foam, which was used both as catalyst and template, by a CVD method. Then the three-dimensional network structured Ni(OH)(2) nanosheets were deposited on the graphene-coated nickel foam by a hydrothermal method. Electrochemical tests of this kind of electrode show a high specific capacitance (1440 F/g) and excellent cycling performance of similar to 100% capacitance retention over 2000 cycles in a 1 M NaOH electrolyte. The presence of the graphene is critical to the high-performance of the electrode, and the experiment using the Ni(OH)(2) on bare nickel foam exhibited a much worse cycling performance. (C)2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.