Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592

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Electrochimica Acta
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/electacta

The Electrochemical Capacitive Behaviors of NiO Nanoparticles

Tao Meng, Pei-Pei Ma, Jian-Li Chang, Zhi-Hong Wang, Tie-Zhen Ren ∗
School of Chemical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130 China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The NiO nanoparticles were synthesized at different temperatures using a simple hydrothermal precipi-
Received 8 November 2013 tation method and then calcined at 400 ◦ C for 2 h. The morphology, crystalline structures and functional
Received in revised form groups of nano NiO materials were investigated by SEM, XRD and FT-IR, respectively. Electrochemical
27 December 2013
properties were examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)
Accepted 24 January 2014
and cyclic charge-discharge tests. The results showed that the particle size of nano NiO was around
Available online 8 February 2014
10 nm and dependent of temperature in the range of 120-180 ◦ C. Their specific capacitance achieved to
630 F/g at the scan rate of 5 mV/s (vs. Hg/HgO). The cycling test results showed that nano NiO exhibited
Keywords:
Nanomaterials
good cycling performance after 500 cycles.
NiO © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Supercapacitors
Electrochemical properties

1. Introduction inexpensive electrode materials with good capacitive characteris-

tic, such as NiO [13], CoO [14], MnO2 [15], CuO [16], SnO2 [17], and
With the burning of fossil fuels and the environment changes, Fe3 O4 [18].
it is urgent to find new energy and new energy storage devices. Among these candidates, nickel oxide has attracted considerable
Electrochemical supercapacitors (ESs), with a combination of high attention for its lower cost, environment-friendly and high pseu-
power density and high energy density, can be used as a new docapacitive behavior. It is applied in catalysis [19], electrochromic
and complementary energy storage device along with the primary films [20], fuel cell electrodes [21], gas sensors [22] and so on. The
power source, such as battery and fuel cell [1]. ESs are gener- theoretical specific capacitance of NiO is 2584 F/g within 0.5 V [23].
ally classified into two main types based on their charge-storage In general, the specific capacitance of pseudocapacitors arises from
mechanisms: electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) and the the interface of the electrode. It is well known that nanostructure
redox electrochemical capacitors (pseudocapacitors). The electrical materials show peculiar and fascinating properties superior to their
charge of EDLCs is stored at the interface between the electrode and bulk counterparts [11]. Thus, electrode materials with nanoscale
electrolyte and the electrode materials are mainly carbons [2–6]. crystalline particle size would display high specific surface areas,
Though carbon material shows good conductivity, electrochemical which induces the formation of many electrical double layers and
stability, and long life cycle, the energy density of carbon-based employs more electroactive species in pseudocapacitive reactions,
EDLCs is limited by the electrostatic surface ion-adsorption charg- resulting in high electrochemical activities and excellent capaci-
ing mechanism, which limits its application for ESs [7,8]. The tive performance [9,23,24]. Many preparation methods, chemical
pseudocapacitors based on transition metal oxides mainly utilize precipitation [25], liquid-phase process [24], chemical bath depo-
the capacitance trimming from reversible faradaic reaction occur- sition [20], sol-gel method [20] and hydrothermal process [26,27]
ring at the electrode surface, which has much higher energy density have been explored for fabrication of nano-scaled NiO compounds.
and capacitance than EDLCs [9,10]. The ideal electrode materi- Compared with those synthesis techniques, hydrothermal synthe-
als of pseudocapacitors like RuO2 and IrO2 display higher specific sis approach is one of the most easily controlling techniques for the
capacitance value than conventional carbon materials [11,12]. For fabrication of nanostructured materials. Recent reports show that
example, hydrous ruthenium oxides exhibit remarkably high spe- the urchinlike NiO nanostructures display a specific capacitance of
cific capacitance varying from 720 to 760 F/g [11,12]. But, they are 290 F/g in the range of 0.0 - 0.5 V (vs. Hg/HgO) [28]. The spherical-
limited to commercial products for their costliness and toxic nature. type structures of calcined NiO particles possess the nanosheets
Hence, much effort has been aimed at searching for alternative with thickness of 10-30 nm and its specific capacitance can reach
to 470 F/g in the range of 0.0 - 0.45 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) [23]. The grain
size of NiO as well by baking Ni(OH)2 at 300 ◦ C is 20 nm, showing
∗ Corresponding author.
the specific capacitance of 300 F/g in the range of 0.0 - 0.5 V (vs.
E-mail address: rtz@hebut.edu.cn (T.-Z. Ren).
SCE) [24].

0013-4686/$ – see front matter © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2014.01.144
 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592 587

Most of the reports have already investigated the calcination 2.3. Electrochemical tests
temperatures on particle sizes, morphology and electrochemical
performance of nickel oxide precursor. Zheng et al. [12] synthe- The electrodes for electrochemical capacitors were prepared
sized nanostructured NiO with shaggy cauliflower-like flakes by by the following processes. Nano NiO (ca. 0.05 g) was mixed with
hydrothermal method at 140 ◦ C and 150 ◦ C via post-heating at acetylene black and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and their mass
300 ◦ C, respectively, the NiO nanoflakes prepared at 140 ◦ C are ratio was 75:20:5. The above slurry was made using ethanol as a
50-80 nm in width and 20 nm in thickness, and its specific capac- solvent and coated onto nickel foam. After dried at 70 ◦ C for 12 h,
itance is 137.7 F/g (vs. SCE), higher than that of NiO prepared the coated nickel foam was pressed under the pressure of 20 MPa as
at 150 ◦ C. In this paper, the nano NiO is prepared at different the electrode material. The commercial activated carbon was used,
temperatures by hydrothermal method, using nickel nitrate and instead of NiO particles, for the preparation counter electrode with
ammonium hydrogen carbonate as materials. The particle size the same method.
can be controlled by hydrothermal treatment temperature. The The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance
electrochemical capacitive behavior of the prepared nano NiO spectroscopy (EIS) of cells were performed with IM6 & ZENNIUM
after calcinations was performed with cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical workstation in three-electrode arrangement. The
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic charge- working electrode (2cm × 2 cm) was characterized in 6 M KOH solu-
discharge tests. The capacitance of nano NiO around 10 nm scales tion using Hg/HgO as a reference electrode and a platinum plate
can achieve to 630 F/g at the scan rate of 5 mV/s. (3cm × 3 cm) as counter electrode. The voltage window of CV test
was from 0 to 0.7 V with the scan rates of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mV/s.
EIS measurements were conducted in a frequency range of 100 kHz
2. Experimental
to 1 mHz with AC oscillation of 10 mV. The cycle charge-discharge
was evaluated with the Land-CT2001A (100 mA) cell in an asym-
2.1. Synthesis of materials
metric two-electrode system with the voltage ranges from 0 to 1 V.
In the two-electrode system, the NiO and activated carbon were
Nanostructure NiO precursors were prepared by hydrothermal
used as the working electrode and the counter electrode, respec-
synthesis method at different temperatures: 180 ◦ C, 160 ◦ C, 140 ◦ C,
tively.
120 ◦ C. All chemicals used in our experiments were reagent grade
without further purification. NH4 HCO3 was used as the precipita-
tion agent. In a typical procedure, Ni(NO3 )2 ·6H2 O and NH4 HCO3 3. Results and Discussion
at a molar ratio of 1:2 was dissolved in 30 ml deionized water to
form a transparent solution, respectively. Followed by mixing the 3.1. Characterization of materials
two solutions under vigorous magnetic agitation, NH3 ·H2 O (25 ␻t%)
was added dropwise into the above solution to obtain a light blue The phase structure and purity of the production were exam-
suspension at pH to 9. After vigorous stirring for 30 min, the final ined by XRD as represented in Fig. 1. All the peaks corresponding to
suspension was transferred to a 50 ml Teflon-lined autoclave. The NiO are matched to the standard data card (JCPDS 65-2901) with a
autoclave was sealed and heated in an oven at 180 ◦ C, 160 ◦ C, 140 ◦ C, cubic crystalline structure. No other peaks are observed, indicating
120 ◦ C for 2 h, respectively, and then allowed to cool to room tem- that the precursors are completely transformed to NiO. The main
perature naturally. The resulting pale green slurry was rinsed with diffraction peaks observed at 2␪ = 37.2◦ , 43.2◦ , 62.7◦ , 76.5◦ and 79.9◦
deionized water and 95% of ethanol for several times to remove correspond to the (110), (200), (220), (311) and (222) crystal planes
soluble impurities. The precipitate was dried at 70 ◦ C in an oven of NiO structure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measure-
for 12 h to get Ni(OH)2 solid powder. Nano NiOs were produced ment is performed to investigate the morphologies and dimension
further by thermal decomposition of those products at 400 ◦ C for of the obtained nano NiO. Fig. 2 shows the SEM images of nano
2 h, recorded as N-1 (180 ◦ C), N-2 (160 ◦ C), N-3 (140 ◦ C) and N-4 NiO prepared with different temperatures. It is obvious that the
(120 ◦ C), respectively. samples are dispersed uniformly, but appeared to be massed with
each other due to the calcinations. The distribution of nanoparticles
N-1 is quite uniform and well dispersed as represented in Fig. 2a.
2.2. Characterization of materials
Further observation at a high magnification shows the particle size
located in the range of 10 nm scales (Fig. 2a (inset)). Fig. 2b shows
The structure of the nano NiO samples was determined by pow-
the sheet shape and some fluffy nanoparticles in sample N-2. The
der X-ray diffraction (XRD) using a Bruker D8 Focus diffractometer
with Cu-K␣ radiation (␭=1.5406 Å) at a scanning rate of 0.01◦ /s.
The morphology of nano NiO sample was captured by emission
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, using JSM-6490LV.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was carried out on a
FEI Tecnai G20 microscope (200 kV). The sample was deposited
on a copper grid coated with performed holey carbon film after
dispersed in ethanol. N2-adsorption-desorption isotherms were
collected at liquid nitrogen temperature using a Quantachrome
NOVA 2000e sorption analyzer. All the samples were degassed
at 200 ◦ C over night before performing the measurement. The
specific surface areas (SBET ) of the samples were calculated fol-
lowing the multi-point Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) procedure.
The pore size distributions of the samples were determined from
the adsorption branch of the isotherms using the NLDFT (non-
local density functional theory) method. Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra of nano NiO products were recorded
by Bruker Vector 22 infrared spectroscopy in the range of 400 to
4000 cm−1 by using the KBr pellet technique. Fig. 1. XRD pattern of nano NiO: a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; d, N-4.
588 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592

Fig. 2. SEM of nano NiO: a: N-1; b: N-2; c: N-3; d: N-4.

Fig. 3. TEM images of sample (a) N-1 and (b) N-4.

sheet shape particles are in different size and some of them are per- (Fig. 3a (inset). Comparing to N-1, the particle size of sample N-4 is
pendicular to the observed plane with the thickness of ca. 50 nm. a little bit larger than 10 nm, also with aggregation in some degree
The sample N-3 and N-4 represent highly aggregated particles and (Fig. 3b).
without regular shape (Fig. 2c and d). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) is a useful tool
Looking through TEM images (Fig. 3), it is clear that the prepared to investigate the functional groups of compounds. Fig. 4a and b
samples are nanostructured materials and dispersed randomly on show a FT-IR spectrum of N-1 and N-2. Generally, metal oxides
the substrate film. The size of nanoparticles is uniform and with a give absorption bands below 1000 cm−1 , due to interatomic vibra-
little bit aggregation (Fig. 3a). Enlarging the sample N-1, the shape tions. The peak at about 441 cm−1 in the spectrum is assigned to
of nanoparticles is arbitrary and the size can be calculated at 8 nm Ni-O stretching vibration mode, indicating that the as-calcined NiO

Table 1
Specific capacitance of nano NiO materials at different scan rates.

No. SBET /m2 /g Vtotal /cm3 /g DDFT /nm Capacitances/F/g

5 mV/s 10 mV/s 20 mV/s 50 mV/s 100 mV/s

N-1 118.09 0.250 3.37 5.42 520 349 222 166 149
N-2 77.93 0.199 3.28 5.53 569 349 208 150 120
N-3 54.36 0.115 3.24 5.41 511 283 172 102 82
N-4 62.20 0.112 3.20 4.62 630 413 228 168 137
 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592 589

The soluble Ni2+ ions react with OH− and the solid of Ni(OH)2
as an intermediate phase can be precipitated during the reaction
procedure: Ni2+ + 2 OH− → Ni(OH)2 . Then it is transformed to the
final NiO phase by calcinations in a muffle oven with a loss of H2 O.
However, the initial particle size and shape are formed during the
hydrothermal treatment and related to the factor of temperature.
The high reaction temperature is profit to accelerate the reaction
and make the nanoscaled grains. This is because the instantaneous
nucleation number increase and precipitate the intermediate phase
quickly at high temperature. The declined concentration of the pre-
cursors with the growth phase during the hydrothermal treatment
leads to a smaller particle size formed. Low temperature declines
the speed of the precipitation and the instantaneous nucleation get
the time to aggregation. Thus we believe that the change of tem-
perature in the hydrothermal system must be acted on the growth
Fig. 4. FT-IR spectra of nano NiO: a, N-1; b, N-2. process of the nanoparticles and the suitable hydrothermal treat-
ment condition should be considered as the main issue.

nanocrystals at 400 ◦ C are pure inorganic NiO species [26]. The

3.2. Electrochemical tests
absorption band around 1384 cm−1 confirms the presence of car-
bonate ions. The broad peak at 3427 cm−1 is characteristic of the
The electrochemical properties and specific capacitance of nano
stretching vibration of hydroxyl groups of H2 O and the H-OH bend-
NiO materials are investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Fig. 6
ing vibration appears at 1615 cm−1 [26,29].
shows the cyclic voltammetric curves (CVs) of nano NiO prepared
To estimate the surface area of NiO microstructures, nitrogen
at different temperatures. Two strong current peaks are observed,
adsorption/desorption isotherms were carried out, and pore-size
showing that the capacitance characteristics are quite different
distribution of N-x, respectively are shown in Fig. 5. According to
from that of double-layer capacitance in which the shape of CV is
the IUPAC classification, the isotherm can be classified as type IV
normally close to an ideal rectangle. It indicates that the capacitance
with H2 and H4 type hysteresis behavior [30,31]. N-1 and N-2 with
of NiO mainly results from pseudocapacitive capacitance based on a
H4 type hysteresis loop are associated with the secondary pro-
redox mechanism. In recent studies of NiO used as supercapacitor
cess of capillary condensation, which starts at about P/P0 = 0.4 and
material, its redox process is not a simple absorption/desorption
expends almost to P/P0 = 1, suggesting the presence of mesopores
OH− , but the surface Faradaic reaction of Ni2+ /Ni3+ occurs at the
in the sample [23]. While the H2 type hysteresis loop for sample
surface of NiO in alkaline solution, and it can be explained by the
N-3 and N-4 can be observed and located in the P/P0 value greater
following schemes [35]:
than 0.6. This sharp increase is generally associated with the capil-
lary condensation, indicating the good homogeneity of the sample NiO + OH − ↔ NiOOH + e− (2)
and fairly small pore size since the P/P0 position of the inflection
The anodic peak at rough value of 0.36 V is related to the oxida-
point is related to the pore size [22]. The pore size between 3-6 nm
tion of nano NiO to NiOOH, and the cathodic peak at about 0.25 V
calculated by NLDFT model [32] is apparent due to the expansion
is ascribed to its reverse process. It is similar to the result in which
of pores. The NiO structure has a uniform framework with such
the potentials of anodic peak and cathodic peak were 0.31 V and
special pore structure of bimodal pore size distributions, making
0.21 V, respectively [23]. As the scan rate increased, the potentials
it applicable for NiO supercapacitor applications [31,33,34]. Textu-
of the anodic and cathodic peaks shift in more positive and negative
ral properties of the as prepared materials are listed in Table 1. The
directions, due to the limitation of the ion diffusion rate to satisfy
BET specific surface area of N-x (x = 1-4) are 118.09, 77.93, 54.36 and
electronic neutralization during the redox reaction [26].
62.20 cm2 /g, respectively, which are higher than those of reported
The specific capacitance can be calculated from CVs according
NiO particles [22,33]. The total pore volumes of N-x (x = 1-4) are
to the following equation:
0.250, 0.199, 0.115 and 0.112 cm3 /g, respectively. The surface area
and pore volume of N-x decreased tardily with the decrease of the Q
c= (3)
reaction temperature. m · V
Where C is the specific capacitance of nano NiO material (F/g),
Q is the quantity of electric charge (C), m is the amount of active
material (g), and V is the potential difference (V). The specific
capacitances of N-1, N-2, N-3, and N-4 at different scan rates are
tabulated in Table 1. It is obvious that N-4 shows the highest spe-
cific capacitance of 630 F/g at the scan rate of 5 mV/s. We can also
see that the specific capacitance of each sample becomes smaller
with the increase of the scan rate. This result is better than the
nanoporous pine-cone structured NiO powder by a hydrother-
mally heated homogeneous precipitation method using CTAB as
a template and urea as a hydrolysis controlling agent. A specific
capacitance value of 279 F/g measured by cyclic voltammetry at
5 mV/s was obtained within the potential range from 0.1 V to 0.6 V
(vs. Hg/HgO) [27].
Since cycle-life is the most important criterion for a super-
capacitor, an endurance test of nano NiO was conducted by 500
Fig. 5. N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm and pore-size distribution of nano NiO: cycles between 0.0 and 0.7 V at a scan rate of 50 mV/s. The spe-
a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; d, N-4. cific capacitance of the nano NiO electrodes, based on the cyclic
590 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592

Fig. 6. CV curves of NiO materials: a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; d, N-4. Scan rate dependent cyclic voltammetry of nanostructured NiO against Hg/HgO reference electrode. Arrow
indicates the decreasing scan rate (100, 50, 20, 10, and 5 mV/s).

voltammograms, is calculated and drafted in Fig. 7. It is obvious the prepared NiO materials consist of a small semicircle at high
that the specific capacitance of all N-x become significantly larger frequency and a linear part at low frequency. From the point
with the increase of cycle number at the beginning of cycling intersecting with the real axis in the very high frequency, the
results, which maybe due to the electrode materials are activated internal resistances (Ri ) of N-x caused from the different conduc-
after several redox processes [36]. Compared with other N-x, N-1 tivity in the solid oxide (electronic conductivity) and the aqueous
shows the best electrochemical stability. It reaches to the highest electrolyte phase (ionic conductivity) are in the range of 0.1-0.2 ,
specific capacitance value 240 F/g after 20 cycles at the scan rate which can be summarized as the total resistances of the elec-
of 50 mV/s and then remains floating up and down in the vicinity trode (Rs ), the electrolyte resistance (Relectrode ) and the resistance
of 240 F/g. After reaching to the highest specific capacitance of 300 at electrolyte/electrode interface (Rinterface ) [33]. The impedance
F/g at 240th cycles, the specific capacitance of N-2 declines slowly characteristic induced by the Faradaic redox processes involves the
to about 270 F/g. The increase of the specific capacitance value of electron hopping in the nano NiO particle and OH− ion diffusion.
N-3 becomes larger and later flattens from 1 to 500 cycles with an From Fig. 8 a and c, we can see clearly that the Ri of N-1 and N-3
increasing of the cycle numbers. For N-4, the specific capacitance become bigger with the increase of cycle number. The change of Ri
remains at about 285 F/g from 40 cycles to 280 cycles, after that, it of N-2 (Fig. 8b) is tiny and the Ri of N-4 (Fig. 8d) becomes smaller.
falls and maintains at about 260 F/g. The semicircle in the range of high frequency represents the
The EIS analysis is one of the principal methods to examine charge-transfer resistance (Rct ), and it increases with the increase
the fundament behavior of electrode materials for supercapacitor. of the semicircle ddiameters. The charge-transfer resistance is
Fig. 8 shows Nyquist plots of the capacitive electrode before and generally related to the surface areas of the electroactive materials
after 100, 300, 500 cycles (vs. Hg/HgO). The Nyquist plots of which is increased with the increasing specific surface area and
electrical conductivity [37]. In the low frequency, the slope of N-x
becomes closer to 45◦ with the increase of cycling numbers (at
50 mV/s), which maybe due to the facile and reversible faradic
redox reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface. The easy
access of OH− ions at such low frequencies and the stable phase
can be achieved during the charge-discharge processes [27,37,38].
Typical charging and discharging curves of nano NiO samples are
measured at the current density of 0.02 A/g and 0.1 A/g in 6 mol/L of
KOH. It is obvious in Fig. 9 (inset) that the charge-discharge curves
display the distorted mirror-like shape, and the constant slope of
these charge-discharge curves reveals that the prepared nano NiO
electrode materials have high electrochemical reversibility [11].
The leakage current can be read from the drop-off of the IR drop at
the very beginning of the discharge process. The potential drop was
caused by the overall internal resistance of the electrode, includ-
ing the electronic resistance of electrode, the diffusing resistance of
ions through the separator and in the nanopores of electrode and
Fig. 7. Cycle tests of N-x: variation in the specific capacitance as a function of the
cycle number at a 50 mV/s scan rate: a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; d, N-4. the current collector [6]. The redox current thus lags behind the
 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592 591

Fig. 8. Nyquist impedance plots of the nano NiO electrodes after various cycling numbers at 50 mV/s: a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; d, N-4.

charge-discharge current [28]. Besides that, we can see from the the particle size of N-1 is the smallest and it shows the highest sur-
Fig. 9 that the charging time is much longer than that of the dis- face area, the capacitance of N-1 is not high comparing to the others
charging, representing a loss of specific capacitance value during except the high stability during the CV test. On the contrary, N-4
the redox processes. The intercept time of N-2 and N-3 is much less with the low surface area represents both high capacitance value
than that of N-1, suggesting the increased capacitances. The value and stability. The N-2 and N-3 possess an increased capacitance
of capacitance of N-1, N-2 and N-3 can be calculated as 59.3 F/g, and become stable after 240 cycles indicating that the morphology
30.8 F/g and 46.1 F/g, respectively, when the current density is 0.02 and particle size may also act on the electrochemical properties.
A/g. The cyclic characteristic of N-1 supercapacitor was also exam- So far the reported nanostructure NiO samples show a specific
ined by galvanostatic charge/discharge at 0.1 A/g over 500 cycles. capacitance of about 173 F/g and 300 F/g in three electrode system
The relationship of cycle number to discharge capacitance can be [12,24]. In our current study, the prepared NiO electrode by a sim-
read in Fig. 9. After 500 cycles, it could be seen that the charge loss ple hydrothermal precipitation process has a higher capacitance of
does not exceed 10% and the specific capacitance decreases form 630 F/g. The reason may be ascribed to the uniformed nanoparticles
57.5 F/g to 53.8 F/g. in our sample. However, the capacitance in two electrode system
The small particle size, high surface area and porosity are is low and still needs to be improved in the future for industrial
thought as the useful factors to improve the electrochemical prop- application.
erties of the active materials. While, amongst our prepared samples,
4. Conclusions

The nano NiO samples were synthesized at different temper-

atures by a simple hydrothermal precipitation method and then
heated at 400 ◦ C for 2 h. The morphology and nanoparticle size
are affected by the hydrothermal treatment temperatures with the
result of nonoplates at 160 ◦ C (N-3) and nanoparticles at 180 ◦ C
(N-4), respectively. The electrochemical performance of nano NiO
electrodes were investigated by CV and EIS analysis. The CV results
indicated a good capacitive behavior for the sample N-4, and the
specific capacitance was up to 630 F/g in 6 mol/L of KOH aque-
ous solution. The electrodes prepared in this work exhibited good
cycling performance and the capacitance retention of electrodes
can be maintained at a relative stable value.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foun-

Fig. 9. The relationship of specific capacitance with cycle number of N-1 in 6 mol/L
dation of China (21076056), Key Project of Chinese Ministry of
KOH with the current density of 0.1 A/g and 0.02 A/g. (inset) Charge-discharge curves
of nano NiO prepared at different temperatures: a, N-1; b, N-2; c, N-3; with the Education (210010), Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Edu-
current density of 0.02 A/g. cation of China (20091317120005), Scientific Research Foundation
592 T. Meng et al. / Electrochimica Acta 125 (2014) 586–592

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