Novel electrodeposition of bud-like cobalt/zinc metal-organic-framework onto nickel foam as a high-performance binder-free electrode material for supercapacitor applications

In this paper, bimetal-terephthalate (i.e. CoZn-bdc) metal-organic-framework (MOF) structures with bud-like morphology are grown onto nickel foam by a one-step reductive electrochemical procedure, which are used as electrode active materials for supercapacitor. The synthesized CoZn-bdc material is characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyzes. The acquired results verified the formation of the bud-like MOF structures with mixed metallic centers (i.e. 3.89% Co and 3.07 % Zn) onto Ni-foam substrate. Electrochemical performances of the CoZn-bdc/Ni foam were also investigated by galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) tests, which exhibited high specific capacitance of 1205 F g–1 and 94.8 % capacity retention after 8000 cycling at 2 A g–1. Finally, the as-prepared samples are found to be of great potential as a high-performance electrode active material for electrochemical supercapacitors.