Surfactant-assisted facile synthesis of petal-nanoparticle interconnected nanoflower like NiO nanostructure for supercapacitor electrodes material

Nickel oxide (NiO) nanostructures with diverse morphology were prepared by facile sol–gel route using cationic, anionic, and non-ionic surfactants as stabilizing agents. The effects of surfactants on the physical and morphological properties of NiO were investigated. In addition, the electrochemical properties of grown products were also studied. We have observed that cationic surfactant (CTAB) leads to petal-nanoparticle interconnected nanoflower-like morphology. The electrochemical study revealed that all electrodes have pseudocapacitive nature with Faradic charge-storage mechanism. The CTAB assisted electrode owns large specific capacitance/energy density/power density of 397F/g/27.57 Wh/kg/0.54 KW/kg at 1 A/g current density in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte with superior cycling stability. The formation of nanoflower-like morphology in CTAB assisted electrode provides a larger surface area for ions transportation, higher conductivity, fast charge transfer, higher current density, and high electrochemical active surface area, attributing to boosted supercapacitive behavior of synthesized electrodes.