Construction of hybrid Ni–Mn–Co–Ce oxide yolk-double shell hierarchical architectures for enhanced supercapacitors

Abstract

Hybrid metal oxides possess the favorable features of each component and are proven suitable candidates for supercapacitors. However, the construction of hybrid metal oxides with intricate hollow architectures is specially challenging. Herein, we exploit a simple strategy to synthesize NiO–MnO₂–Co₃O₄–CeO₂ yolk-double shell (Ni–Mn–Co–Ce oxide YDS) hierarchical architectures for enhanced supercapacitor performance. First, a Ni–Mn–Co–Ce glycerate-templated construction of yolk–shell hierarchical architecture intermediates was crafted using a solvothermal method. The yolk–shell hierarchical architecture intermediates were then transformed into Ni–Mn–Co–Ce oxide YDS hierarchical architectures via pyrolysis. Such designed hybrid Ni–Mn–Co–Ce oxide materials can be deemed attractive electrodes for supercapacitors with unique components and architectures. They demonstrated a high specific capacitance of 2126.7 F g⁻¹ at 4.0 A g⁻¹ and a mere 10.2% reduction in 10 000 cycles. The Ni–Mn–Co–Ce oxide YDS hierarchical architectures were further used to construct the cathode in an asymmetric supercapacitor, achieving an energy density of 100.4 Wh kg⁻¹ at 1200 W kg⁻¹. This work provides a simple avenue for fabricating hybrid metal oxides with complex hollow architectures toward high-performance supercapacitors.