Self-Assembly of Metal-Organic Frameworks on Graphene Oxide Nanosheets and In Situ Conversion into a Nickel Hydroxide/Graphene Oxide Battery-Type Electrode

Graphene oxide (GO) has been widely reported as a supercapacitor electrode. Especially, GO is usually utilized to composite with electrochemical active materials, such as transition-metal oxide/hydroxide/sulfide, due to its considerable conductivity and mechanical strength. However, the ideal design and treatment for compositing GO with active materials are still challenging. Herein, an Ni-metal-organic framework (MOF) was self-assembled on GO nanosheets via the solvothermal method and was subsequently etched into the Ni(OH)(2)-GO composite electrode material through a gentle hydrolysis strategy. The GO support enables fast electron transport within the composite material, and the nickel hydroxide growth on GO nanosheets can prevent their aggregation, guaranteeing rapid ion migration. The improved Ni(OH)(2)-GO battery-type electrode features outstanding stability (capacity retention of 108% at 8000 cycles) and a considerable specific capacity (SC) of 1007.5 C g(-1) at a current density of 0.5 A g(-1). Compared with MOF-derived Ni(OH)(2) obtained through hydrolysis, Ni(OH)(2)-GO only contains 7.41% wt GO, while its SC is almost 50% higher. An asymmetric supercapacitor has an energy density of 65.22 W h kg(-1) and a power density of 395.27 W kg(-1) utilizing p-phenylenediamine-functional reduced GO as the negative electrode, and it can maintain 73.08% capacity during 8000 cycles at a current density of 5 A g(-1).

Automated summary

Graphene oxide (GO) is commonly used in composites with active materials for supercapacitor electrodes. This study successfully synthesized Ni(HO)(2)-GO composite electrode material through self-assembly of Ni-metal-organic framework (MOF) on GO nanosheets and subsequent hydrolysis. The resulting electrode material exhibits excellent stability and specific capacity.