Polydopamine-derived nitrogen-doped carbon-coated NiS nanoparticles as a battery-type electrode for high-performance supercapacitors

The design of core-shell nanocomposites has become a valid solution to improve the electrochemical performance of materials. This study reports a simple and extensible method for preparing N-doped carbon-coated NiS core-shell composites at different temperatures (300 degrees C and 500 degrees C, denoted as NiS@NC-300, NiS@NC-500). We discussed the effect of pyrolysis temperature on composites. At high temperature, the coating of PDA protects the original crystalline structure and microstructure of NiS to a certain extent, lowering the original high temperature instability of NiS. In addition, the core-shell structure contributes to adapting and buffering the volume change of NiS in charge-discharge cycles. Moreover, carbon layer tightly connects NiS nanoparticles to form a stable interconnected network framework structure to enhance electrochemical stability. Benefiting from these structural advantages, NiS@NC-300 exhibits a higher specific capacity of 665C g(-1) (1330 F g(-1)) at 0.5 A g(-1) and significantly enhanced cycle stability that 92.3% of the initial capacity is retained over 3000 cycles at 10 A g(-1), which are far better than NiS. An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) comprised of NiS@NC-300 and the commercial activated carbon (AC) electrodes delivers a high energy density of 28.6 Wh kg(-1) at the power density of 884.5 W kg(-1) and shows great cycle stability with the retention of 81.7% after 3000 cycles. NiS@NC-300 demonstrates its attractive potential in the domain of practical energy storage devices.

Automated summary

The study presents a simple and extensible method for preparing N-doped carbon-coated NiS core-shell composites at different temperatures and discusses the impact of pyrolysis temperature on the composites. The core-shell structure, along with the carbon layer, contributes to enhancing the electrochemical stability of NiS and adapting to volume changes during charge-discharge cycles. The NiS@NC-300 composite exhibits significantly improved specific capacity and cycle stability, making it a promising candidate for practical energy storage devices.