Template assisted synthesis of porous termite nest-like manganese cobalt phosphide as binder-free electrode for supercapacitors

Abstract The development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) opens up a new pathway of original or sacrificial template for synthesizing unique morphologies to serve as novel supercapacitor electrode materials. Herein, we describe a synthesis of termite nest-like nanostructured manganese cobalt phosphide on carbon fiber cloth (MCP/CC) by simple wet chemical method and followed by phosphorization. The fabricated MOF-derived binder-free MCP/CC electrode unveils a maximum areal capacitance (Ca) of 338 mF cm−2 at a current density of 2 mA cm−2 in 6 M KOH electrolyte. Additionally, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) was assembled using MCP/CC as a positive electrode and N, O, S enriched activated carbon coated CC (AC@CC) as a negative electrode, which delivered a maximum specific capacitance of 48 F g−1 at a wide potential window of 0–1.7 V. Moreover, HSC showed an excellent specific energy and power of 19.18 Wh kg−1 and 9996 W kg−1 with superior capacitance retention (94%) even after 10,000 cycles. Further, the device exhibited negligible self-discharge and have good stability even after 50 h of charge holding test. These results indicate that the MCP/CC nanostructure is a favorable electrode material for highly efficient energy storage applications.