Facile synthesis and supercapacitance performance of nickel oxide decorated carbon nanotube arrays on graphene-protected copper

In this paper, the graphene/CNTs arrays were successively grown on Cu substrate by chemical vapor deposition method. The graphene/CNTs arrays were decorated with NiO nanoparticles by adsorption and thermal decomposition of Ni(acac)(2)4H(2)O. After decorating NiO nanoparticles, the graphene/CNTs-NiO possesses a more dispersing morphology and a better electrical conductivity, owing to improving the degree of graphitization of carbon nanostructure, which could provide the effective transport channels for electrolyte ions and electrons in electrochemical process. The graphene/CNTs-NiO used as a binder-free electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 323 F g(?1) in 1.0 M Na2SO4 aqueous solution at current density of 1 A g(?1), which is 7.6 times higher than that of graphene/CNTs electrode.