Construction of Ni-Co-Mn layered double hydroxide nanoflakes assembled hollow nanocages from bimetallic imidazolate frameworks for supercapacitors

Abstract Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) with 3-dimentional (3D) hollow nanoarchitetures are highly desirable for energy related applications. In this study, Ni-Co-Mn LDH nanoflakes assembled hollow nanocages are constructed from bimetallic imidazolate framworks precursors. Benefiting from the 3D hierarchical porous strcuture and composition, the as-synthesized ternary Ni-Co-Mn LDH hollow nanocage, as a electrode for supercapacitor , demonstrates a remarkable electrochemical performance with a high specific capacitance of 2012.5 F g −1 at 1 A g−1 and a good rate capacity of 75.0% retention at 10 A g−1, significantly outperforming binary Ni-Co LDH (1266.2 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, 41.8% retention at 10 A g−1). This work demonstrates the construction of 3D hollow nanostructured LDH with multicomponent compositions for the first time, and can be simply extended to construct other hollow structured electrode materials for energy storage devices.