A Simple Glucose-Blowing Approach to Graphene-Like Foam/NiO Composites for Asymmetric Supercapacitors

The glucose-blowing approach is facile and efficient in producing graphene-like materials with large specific surface area, good conductivity, and yet low cost. Herein, a graphene-like foam/NiO (GLF/NiO) composite is synthesized by a one-step glucose-blowing method at a relatively low carbonization temperature of 650 degrees C with the assistance of Ni(NO3)(2). Especially, Ni(NO3)(2) is used as a blowing agent of glucose and also a precursor of NiO. The resulting GLF/NiO composite exhibits an interconnected foam-like structure with a large specific surface area (323 m(2) g(-1)). The as-fabricated supercapacitor electrode delivers a specific capacitance as high as 539 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1), which is much higher than that of neat GLF (147 F g(-1)) using NH4Cl as the blow agent in the absence of Ni(NO3)(2). The asymmetric supercapacitor is further assembled using GLF/NiO as the positive electrode and GLF as the negative electrode, respectively. The cell shows a high specific capacitance up to 152 F g(-1) and an energy density of 47.6 W h kg(-1) at the power density of 750 W kg(-1). Herein, an appealing approach to the facile fabrication of carbon-based oxide nanocomposites for high-performance electrochemical energy storage is proposed.