Sustainable Approach for Synthesis of Ternary Composite Based on Zinc Metal-Organic Framework and Its Boosting Performance for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract The integration of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and carbon materials boosts the electrochemical performance of supercapacitor (SC) electrodes. Hereby a facile and inexpensive method for synthesizing new hybrid supercapacitor electrode materials, zinc metal framework/reduced graphene oxide (Zn-MOF/rGO), zinc metal framework/polypyrrole (Zn-MOF/PPy) and zinc metal framework/polypyrrole/reduced graphene oxide (Zn-MOF/PPy/rGO) composites were performed. Surface and morphological properties of the four composites were conducted using different tools. The synthesized composites were then loaded onto a nickel foam (NF) substrate for supercapacitor electrochemical tests. The produced Zn-MOF/PPy/rGO nanocomposite loaded on NF electrode materials demonstrated improved electrochemical efficiency, with a high specific capacitance of 500.7 Fg − 1 at a scan rate of 3 Ag − 1 . Moreover, a capacitance retention of 78.5%, and outstanding cyclic stability over 5000 cycles in the three-electrode setup with 1 M KOH electrolyte was observed. The improved electrochemical behavior of Zn-MOF/PPy/rGO nanocomposite loaded on NF electrode materials for SCs, as well as its fast and simple synthesis process, give a suitable and rapid way to synthesize other types of metal-organic frameworks nanocomposite electrodes for various energy storage devices.