Designing an Exfoliated Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheets Embellished on Spherical ZnS as an Efficient Electrode for Hybrid Supercapacitor Applications

Supercapacitors have evolved into a viable solution for confronting issues of energy demand for modern technological world, but its most significant challenge is the construction of novel electrode devices with long-term energy accumulation. In this current work, exfoliated h-BN-ZnS nanocomposites have been efficiently synthesized through an ultrasonication technique. The characterizations of Raman, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies ensure the successful preparation of exfoliated h-BN-ZnS nanocomposites. Further, morphology is visualized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, displaying exfoliated h-BN nanosheets embellished over a surface of spherical-shaped ZnS particles. The electrochemical studies of cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge and discharge have been tested in which the exfoliated h-BN-ZnS NCs working electrode reveals maximum specific capacity of 919.09 C g⁻¹ at 10 mV s⁻¹. A hybrid supercapacitor device is constructed by assembling an exfoliated h-BN-ZnS and activated carbon as positive and negative electrode, providing an excellent specific capacity of 273.54 C g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, and achieving a good energy density of 64.20 Wh kg⁻¹ at the corresponding power density of 844.92 W kg⁻¹, and showing 94.5% of superior capacity retention at 10 A g⁻¹ of current density over 5000 cycles respectively.