Self-supported electrode based on two-dimensional NiPS3 for supercapacitor application

[Display omitted] •2D metal phosphorus trichalcogenide is applied in supercapacitors for the first time.•NiPS3 nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth and NiPS3 nanosheets powder are fabricated.•The self-supported NiPS3 electrode shows superior performance to the powder electrode.•The asymmetric supercapacitor based on NiPS3 electrode delivers high energy density. Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials hold great promise for electrochemical energy storage due to their unique structure. It is always desirable to explore new-type high-performance 2D structured electrode materials in energy field. In this work, layered transition-metal chalcogenophosphite is developed as the electrode material for supercapacitors for the first time. NiPS3 nanosheet arrays are successfully in-situ grown on carbon cloth via a chemical vapor deposition method, and then directly used as the self-supported electrode for supercapacitors. The fabricated carbon cloth supported NiPS3 nanosheet arrays offer obviously superior electrochemical performance to the powdery NiPS3 nanosheets sample. The self-supported NiPS3 electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1148F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, and a good cycling stability with capacitance retention of 81.4% over 5000 cycles at 10 A g−1. Moreover, the assembled asymmetric supercapacitor device delivers a specific capacitance of 61.3F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, and an energy density of 19.2 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 750 W kg−1 with a voltage window of 1.5 V. This work is of great significance for pioneering the application of 2D transition-metal chalcogenophosphites in supercapacitors.