Facile hydrothermal synthesis of nickel tungstate (NiWO4) nanostructures with pronounced supercapacitor and electrochemical sensing activities

• Nickel tungstate (NiWO 4 ) nanostructures are synthesized by the hydrothermal method. • The material possesses conductivity for multidimensional electrochemical applications. • NiWO 4 is successfully applied for supercapacitor applications. • Electrochemical sensing of ascorbic acid is done with promising efficiency. Herein, we designed chain-like, round-shaped nickel tungstate (NiWO 4 ) nanostructures by a simple hydrothermal method. The size of NiWO 4 nanoparticles was between 20 and 100 nm and the average surface area was 101.4827 m 2 /g. Synthesized nanomaterial was investigated for electrochemical supercapacitor studies and charge–discharge capacity studies which demonstrated the enhanced specific capacitance. Results elaborate that NiWO 4 synthesized at 180 °C and calcinated at 700 °C show enhanced specific capacitance 1524 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g. A maximum energy density of 32.27 WhKg −1 was achieved at a power density of 2206 Wkg −1 . Furthermore, the successfully assembled supercapacitor also showed the largest charge/discharge time as 1353 s, corresponding to a current density of 0.5 A/g. Besides, NiWO 4 nanostructures depicted promising electrochemical sensing capabilities when deposited on glassy carbon electrodes for the detection of ascorbic acid. The NiWO 4 modified electrode showed excellent sensitivity for ascorbic acid with a limit of detection of 2.37 mM and 0.38 mM for cvp1 and cvp2, respectively. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of NiWO 4 modified GCE for ascorbic acid was inquired in different electrolytes and the highest intensity was observed in LiSO 4 electrolyte. Based on these findings, the present work might generate new intuition for the synthesis of different combinations of transition metal oxide nanostructures and their applications as supercapacitors and electrochemical sensors.