Dual Functionality of Dichalcogenide-Supported Pentagon Core–Hexagon Ring-Structured NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> Nanoplates: An Effective Hybridization for Tuning of a Diffused- to a Surface-Controlled Process and Boosting of CO<sub>2</sub> Electrocatalysis
Johnbosco Yesuraj, Jinsun Kim, Rui Yang, Kibum Kim
Abstract
Rationally fabricating the hybrid nanostructures with a distinctive surface and internal properties is substantial due to their multifunctional features in energy storage and catalysis applications. Generally, the battery-like supercapacitor materials experience low energy density and inferior cyclic stability issues due to their intercalation/deintercalation process. To address this problem, the dichalcogenides (WSe2 and MoSe2) were hybridized with a battery-like material (NiCo2O4), which effectively changed the diffused-controlled to the surface-controlled process and enhanced the energy density and cyclic stability features. The pentagon core–hexagon ring-structured NiCo2O4 nanoplate with MoSe2 hybrid structures presents excellent electrochemical features with a specific capacity of 857 C g–1 at 1 A g–1 and retains 98% initial capacity after 5000 cycles at 30 A g–1, which is higher than that of pure NiCo2O4 and NiCo2O4/WSe2 materials. The asymmetric supercapacitor device (NiCo2O4/MoSe2//activated carbon) provides an energy density of 69 W h kg–1 at a power density of 1280 W kg–1 and withstands an excellent cyclic stability of 95% after 10,000 cycles at 30 A g–1. Moreover, a preliminary electrochemical analysis was performed to evaluate the CO2 electro-reduction property of the hybrid structures using an H-type cell in a 0.5 M choline chloride electrolyte. The hybridization of MoSe2 enhanced the CO2 electro-reduction properties in the NiCo2O4 material in terms of high current density, low overpotential, smaller equivalent series resistance, charge transfer resistance, and increased electrochemical surface area. These excellent supercapacitors and CO2 electro-reduction performance provide valuable insights into the design and optimization of non-precious hybrid materials for multifunctional applications and render a viable approach to enhance the internal properties of various materials in the future.