Abstract:
We report the electrochemical performance of Ni(OH)
2 on a gas diffusion layer (GDL). The Ni(OH)
2 working electrode was successfully prepared via a simple method, and its electrochemical performance in 1 M NaOH electrolyte was investigated. The electrochemical results showed that the Ni(OH)
2/GDL provided the maximum specific capacitance value (418.11 F·g
−1) at 1 A·g
−1. Furthermore, the Ni(OH)
2 electrode delivered a high specific energy of 17.25 Wh·kg
−1 at a specific power of 272.5 W·kg
−1 and retained about 81% of the capacitance after 1000 cycles of galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) measurements. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the occurrence of sodium deposition after long-time cycling, which caused the reduction in the specific capacitance. This study results suggest that the light-weight GDL, which can help overcome the problem of the oxide layer on metal–foam substrates, is a promising current collector to be used with Ni-based electroactive materials for energy storage applications.