Beyond the ordinary: exploring the synergistic effect of iodine and nickel doping in cobalt hydroxide for superior energy storage applications

Abstract

This study explores the iodine and nickel-doped cobalt hydroxide (I & Ni-co-doped-Co(OH)₂) as a potential material for energy storage and conversion applications owing to its excellent electrochemical characteristics. According to our analysis, it was revealed that this material exhibits pseudocapacitive-like behavior, as evident from distinct redox peaks observed in cyclic voltammetry, which confirms its ability to store charges. The diffusion coefficient analysis reveals that this material possesses conductivity and rapid diffusion kinetics, making it particularly advantageous compared to materials synthesized in previous studies. Charge–discharge measurements were performed to analyze the charge storage capacity and stability of this material after 3000 consecutive cycles, showing its excellent stability with minimum loss of capacitance. Furthermore, its anodic and cathodic linear sweep voltammetry curves were measured to evaluate its oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reaction performance. The results showed that the material exhibited an excellent water splitting performance, which suggests its potential practical application for hydrogen production. This increased activity was attributed to the doping of α-Co(OH)₂, which improved its structural stability, electrical conductivity, and charge transfer efficiency. Thus, I & Ni-co-doped-Co(OH)₂ possesses enhanced properties that make it an excellent material for both energy storage and hydrogen generation applications.