Fabrication of hierarchical Ni nanowires@ NiCo-layered double hydroxide nanosheets core-shell hybrid arrays for high-performance hybrid supercapacitors

•The core-shell structured hierarchical Ni nanowires and NiCo LDHs nanosheets were prepared for the first time by hydrothermal method.•NiCo LDH@h-Ni NWs exhibited a specific capacity of 1486 C/g at a current density of 1 A/g.•NiCo LDH@h-Ni NWs//AC hybrid supercapacitor delivered a high energy density of 72.22 Wh/kg at the power density of 800 W/kg.•The proposed mechanisms for improved supercapacitor performance were well analyzed and demonstrated. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are electrode materials with high specific capacity due to their structure which has a tunable interlayer spacing, however, the disadvantages of their low conductivity and electrochemically limited sites prevent their application in supercapacitors. In this study, we synthesized a high electrochemical performance electrode material with a core-shell structure based on hierarchical nickel nanowires (core) and NiCo LDHs nanosheets (shell). First, hierarchical nickel nanowires, h-Ni NWs, were prepared by the reduction of Ni2+ ions by hydrazine N2H4. Then with the hydrothermal method, the hierarchical nickel nanowires were coated with NiCo LDHs to improve the electrical conductivity of the latter. The electrochemical results showed that the NiCo LDHs@h-Ni NWs electrode had a specific capacity of 1486 C/g at a current density of 1 A/g in 6 M KOH electrolyte with excellent capacity retention (89.7%) after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles at 20 A/g. Due to the synergistic interaction between nickel nanowires and NiCo LDHs which provides excellent conductivity, durability, efficient mesoporous network, and suitable channels for fast ion/electron transfer. In addition, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) was fabricated by combining the NiCo LDHs@h-Ni NWs electrode (battery type) with activated carbon (EDLC). The fabricated device provided a high energy density of 72.22 Wh/kg at 800 W/kg, and a maximum power density of 16 kW/kg, the HSC provided an energy density of 50.44 Wh/kg and outstanding cycling stability (88.1% retention after 10,000 cycles). [Display omitted]