Hollow NiO nanofibers modified by citric acid and the performances as supercapacitor electrode

The possible formation process of NiO nanofibers without citric acid (a), and modified by citric acid (b). When the nanofibers is modified by citric acid, the nickel citrate is produced by complexing action of citric acid and nickel nitrate. Because of the larger space steric hindrance, the structure is limited by the molecular geometry. Under high temperature, the hollow nanofibers composed of NiO slices formed after the removal of PVP. [Display omitted] ► The method of obtaining hollow nanofibers is raised for the first time. ► The prepared NiO nanofibers are hollow tube and comprised of many NiO sheets. ► The hollow structure facilitated the electrolyte penetration. ► The hollow NiO nanofibers have good electrochemical properties. NiO nanofibers modified by citric acid (NiO/CA) for supercapacitor material have been fabricated by electrospinning process. The characterizations of the nanofibers are investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrochemical properties are characterized by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Results show that the NiO/CA nanofibers are hollow tube and comprised of many NiO sheets. Furthermore, the NiO/CA nanofibers have good electrochemical reversibility and display superior capacitive performance with large capacitance (336Fg−1), which is 2.5 times of NiO electrodes. Moreover, the NiO/CA nanofibers show excellent cyclic performance after 1000 cycles.