Hierarchical mesoporous NiCoP hollow nanocubes as efficient and stable electrodes for high-performance hybrid supercapacitor

Highlights: • The hierarchical mesoporous hollow nanocubes were successfully prepared via template etching. • The architecture integrates lager specific surface and mesoporous interconnection. • The hybrid supercapacitor exhibited a high energy density and excellent cycling stability. As one of the major materials of supercapacitor, Transitional Metal phosphides have been extensively studied for superior electrical conductivity, rich valences and high electrochemical activity, and the reasonably designed architecture of bimetals phosphides is considered to be very effective for adequately making full of its material advantages and breaking through its flaws of the low rate capability and bad cycle lifespan in applications. Therefore, bimetals phosphides NiCoP with hollow mesoporous structure is rationally prepared by template etching and phosphorization treatment procedure. This delivered high specific capacity of 658.5 C g⁻¹ at a specific current of 1 A g⁻¹, ultra-high rate capability of 66% achieved even at a high specific current of 30 A g⁻¹ and 80.7% cycling stability after 5000 cycles at 20 A g⁻¹, beneficent from the hierarchical mesoporous hollow structure. Moreover, a hybrid supercapacitor was assembled by NiCoP and activated carbon, which achieves an ultra-high energy density of 41.3 Wh kg⁻¹ at the power density of 373.3 W kg⁻¹, as well as high power density of 7058.3 W kg⁻¹ at an energy density 26.7 Wh kg⁻¹, Remarkably, the hybrid supercapacitor remains exceptional cycling stability of 90.8% at 10 A g⁻¹ after 10,000 cycles. Overall suggest that hierarchical mesoporous NiCoP hollow nanocubes electrode material shows great potential as a novel battery-type electrode for supercapacitor.