Supercapacitive properties of nickel sulfide coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Nickel sulfide (NiS) is one of the most promising candidates as an electrode material for supercapacitors due to its good capacitive properties, high electrical conductivity and low cost. In addition to the development of the new electrode materials, nanostructuring the electrode surface is one of the main issues in enhancing the capacitive performance of the supercapacitors because the increased surface area can improve the charge transfer and energy storage processes occurring at the electrode surface. However, most nanofabrication techniques require complicated and delicate nanoprocesses, and hence are not suitable for practical use. In this work, we developed a simple method to fabricate nanostructured NiS electrodes by depositing NiS onto $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. First, $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were spin-coated on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate, and then NiS layers were deposited onto the $TiO_2$ nanoparticles by consecutive dip-coatings in the solutions containing nickel and sulfur precursors. This nanostructured NiS electrode showed significantly improved capacitive properties compared to the electrode of NiS films deposited without $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. The asymmetric full-cell supercapacitor with this nanostructured NiS electrode and activated carbon electrode was also fabricated and investigated.