Direct growth of hierarchical nickel tin cobalt sulfide thin film on Ni foam as a high-performance electrode for hybrid supercapacitor

Abstract

This study unveils an innovative approach for fabricating high-performance Nickel–Tin–Cobalt sulfide (NTCS) on Ni foam (NF) substrates as a ternary sulfide, shifting the boundaries of supercapacitors (SCs) technology towards economic efficiency. The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique is used to prepare a range of NTCS thin films, as battery like electrode, and the optimized NTCS3@NF electrode displayed exceptional results, overtaking all previously reported ternary sulfides. The NTCS3@NF electrode achieved an impressive specific capacity (Cs) of 1708 C/g at 5 A/g, with 100 % capacity retention and coulombic efficiency after 20,000 cycles. The superior performance of the introduced electrodes is attributed to the effective direct growth of thin film over an excellent conductive substrate and avoiding creating dead surface area by using polymer binders. The inherent connection between the prepared thin film and substrate decreases the overall resistance and facilitates electron transfer across the interface. Also, the thin film porosity helps in effective ion diffusion between the electrode/electrolyte interface. Moreover, the NTCS3@NF//Activated Carbon (AC)@NF hybrid supercapacitor device (HSC) delivered an outstanding energy density (ED) of 20 Wh/kg and a power density (PD) of 12,909 W/kg at 10 A/g, retaining 76 % capacity and 81.2 % coulombic efficiency even after 100,000 cycles, surpassing the performance of leading HSCs. These findings position NTCS as a potential material for next-generation supercapacitors and economical energy storage applications.