Nickel ferrite/polypyrrole core-shell composite as an efficient electrode material for high-performance supercapacitor

In the present work, we report the high-performance supercapacitive behavior of NFO/PPy core–shell composite. The composite electrode was prepared by adopting simple and inexpensive in-situ chemical oxidation route in an aqueous medium containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a surfactant and characterized for the spectral, structural, electrical, thermal and morphological studies. The electrochemical properties were recognized by cyclic voltammetry, charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The supercapacitive performance of NFO/PPy electrode was studied in an aqueous 0.1N H2SO4 electrolyte solution. The effect of electrolyte concentration on specific capacitance and the stability of electrode were studied. The highest specific capacitance (Cs) achieved with NFO/PPy electrode was 721.66 Fg−1. The specific energy (Es), specific power (Ps) and coulomb efficiency (η%) were observed to be 51.95 Whkg−1, 6.18 kWkg−1 and 99.08% respectively. This electrode shows the outstanding electrochemical stability over 1000th continuous charging–discharging cycles and emerged as an efficient electrode material for energy storage devices as a supercapacitor.