A facile synthesis of α-Ni(OH)2-CNT composite films for supercapacitor application

Abstract The α-Ni(OH) 2 -CNT composite films have been successfully synthesized by a simple chemical method and their supercapacitive properties were investigated by variation of CNT. The structural, compositional, morphological, wettability and electrochemical properties of the composite films were studied by using various characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the synthesized composite films are polycrystalline in nature. FT-Raman spectroscopy result showed the characteristic Raman band of CNT and α-Ni(OH) 2 which confirmed the formation of α-Ni(OH) 2 -CNT composite. SEM micrographs showed porous microstructure of the synthesized films and hydrophilic nature of the films was confirmed from wettability studies. Furthermore, the effect of the variation of CNT on the electrochemical properties of the synthesized composite films was discussed. The electrochemical performance of the composite films was studied by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and Galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) techniques. The α-Ni(OH) 2 -CNT composite showed highest specific capacitance of 544 F g −1 with high retention capability of 85% after 1500th cycle and excellent cycling stability.