Nickel(II) Cluster-Based Pillar-Layered Metal–Organic Frameworks for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Most metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) cannot be used as electrode materials for supercapacitors because of their high costs, poor stabilities in aqueous solutions, inferior intrinsic electrocatalytic activities, and poor conductivities. Herein, the application of two nickel(II) cluster-based pillar-layered MOFs, Ni-mba-Na ([Ni8(mba)6(Cl)2Na(OH-)3]n, H2mba is 2-mercaptobenzoic acid) and Ni-mba-K ([Ni8(mba)6(Cl)2K(OH-)3]n), as electrode materials are reported. They differ from conductive MOFs because they are insulators with small specific surface areas (<10 m2 g-1), and H2mba is an inexpensive raw material. The conductivities of Ni-mba-Na and Ni-mba-K at 30 °C were 4.002 × 10-10 and >10-11 S cm-1, respectively. They showed excellent supercapacitor performance and stabilities and high inherent densities and specific capacitances. The specific powers of their asymmetric supercapacitors could reach up to 16,000 W kg-1; the specific energies of Ni-mba-Na and Ni-mba-K were 16.9 and 21.8 Wh kg-1, respectively. Design recommendations for these MOFs are provided based on their structure and performance differences. This paper shows a novel application of nonconductive MOFs in the energy storage field and design of high-performance electrode materials for supercapacitors.