Regulating the Oxygen Vacancy and Electronic Structure of NiCo Layered Double Hydroxides by Molybdenum Doping for High‐Power Hybrid Supercapacitors

Abstract

Amelioration of nickel‐cobalt layered double hydroxides (NiCo‐LDH) with a high specific theoretical capacitance is of great desire for high‐power supercapacitors. Herein, a molybdenum (Mo) doping strategy is proposed to improve the charge‐storage performance of NiCo‐LDH nanosheets growing on carbon cloth (CC) via a rapid microwave process. The regulation of the electronic structure and oxygen vacancy of the LDH is consolidated by the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, which demonstrates that Mo doping narrows the band gap, reduces the formation energy of hydroxyl vacancies, and promotes ionic and charge transfer as well as electrolyte adsorption on the electrode surface. The optimal Mo‐doped NiCo‐LDH electrode (MoNiCo‐LDH‐0.05/CC) has an amazing specific capacity of 471.1 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1, and excellent capacity retention of 84.8% at 32 A g−1, far superior to NiCo‐LDH/CC (258.3 mA h g−1 and 76.4%). The constructed hybrid supercapacitor delivers an energy density of 103.3 W h kg−1 at a power density of 750 W kg−1 and retains the cycle retention of 85.2% after 5000 cycles. Two assembled devices in series can drive thirty LED lamps, revealing a potential application prospect of the rationally synthesized MoNiCo‐LDH/CC as an energy‐storage electrode material.