Hollow transition metal chalcogenides derived from vanadium-based metal organic framework for hybrid supercapacitors with excellent energy-density and stability

In-situ synthesized hollow transition metal chalcogenides have gained significant attention on account of their excellent electrochemical properties. Here, Ni-doped V-MOF (V(Ni)-MOF) nanorod arrays as precursor are first grown on nickel foam (NF). Subsequently, the nanorod arrays are converted into V(NiCo)-OH hollow nanotube arrays with cross-linked nanosheets by Co²⁺ etching. Finally, V(NiCo)-OH/NF is converted into V(NiCo)-X/NF (X = O, S and Se) by annealing or ion exchange. Due to the unique morphology of hollow nanotube arrays with cross-linked nanosheets and synergistic effect of multi-metal components, the V(NiCo)-Se/NF achieves an outstanding specific capacity (1806.7 C g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹), which is higher than that of V(NiCo)-O/NF (1208.3 C g⁻¹) and V(NiCo)-S/NF (1558.4 C g⁻¹). In addition, the capacity retention rate is 91.7 % (at 10 A g⁻¹ after 10, 000 cycles). Utilizing V(NiCo)-Se/NF (positive) and activated carbon/NF (negative), the hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) achieves an impressive high energy density of 114.8 Wh kg⁻¹ (at 679.5 W kg⁻¹). Moreover, two HSCs in series can power the LED and stopwatch, and keep working for more than 60 min, displaying good practical application capabilities.