3D hierarchical SnO2@Ni(OH)(2) core-shell nanowire arrays on carbon cloth for energy storage application

A judicious combination of conducting materials with selected transition metal hydroxides to form core-shell nanostructures has attracted great attention owing to the underlying synergistic effect for energy storage. In this work, we fabricate a novel 3D nanostructure consisting of Ni(OH)(2) ultrathin nanoflakes directly anchored on SnO2 nanowire arrays by a facile solution-based method, which utilizes the higher conductance of SnO2 nanowires as the supporting scaffold to deposit Ni(OH)(2) for supercapacitor electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge methods have been conducted to understand the capacitive performance of the SnO2/Ni(OH)(2) core-shell nanocomposites. A specific capacitance of as high as 1553 F g(-1) is achieved at 0.5 A g(-1) in 6 M KOH aqueous solution. At a large current density of 10 A g(-1), the electrode retains a high capacitance value of 934 F g(-1). The superior capacitive behavior suggests that the hierarchical SnO2@Ni(OH)(2) hybrid nanostructure is a very promising electrode material for fabricating high-performance supercapacitors.