No abstract

A Pt-free nanoreactor, consisting of N-doped hollow carbon nanocapsules with encapsulated Ni nanoparticles, is developed for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst. The nanoreactor effect improves its catalytic activity for ORR mainly in a 4e pathway. The presence of Ni nanoparticles within the nanoreactor significantly enhances the stability with a current retention of 90% after 40 h.

We demonstrated an efficient method for the fabrication of novel, flexible electrodes based on ZnO nanoflakes and nickel-cobalt layered double hydroxides (denoted as ZnONF/NiCoLDH) as a core-shell nanostructure on textile substrates for wearable energy storage devices. NiCoLDH coated ZnO nanowire (denoted as ZnONW/NiCoLDH) flexible electrodes are also prepared for comparison. As an electrode for supercapacitors, ZnONF/NiCoLDH exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1624 F g(-1), which is nearly 1.6 times greater than ZnONW/NiCoLDH counterparts. It also shows a maximum energy density of 48.32 W h kg(-1) at a power density of 27.53 kW kg(-1), and an excellent cycling stability with capacitance retention of 94% and a Coulombic efficiency of 93% over 2000 cycles. We believe that the superior performance of the ZnONF/NiCoLDH hybrids is due primarily to the large surface area of the nanoflake structure and the open spaces between nanoflakes, both of which provide a large space for the deposition of NiCoLDH, resulting in reduced internal resistance and improved capacitance performance. Our results are significant for the development of electrode materials for high-performance wearable energy storage devices.