Massive growth of Ni3Se4 on electrospun carbon nanofibers induced by lignin and Co for high-performance supercapacitor

The weak interaction between transition metal selenides and carbon materials caused difficulties for their combination. In this study, a novel strategy based on lignin and Co nanoparticles was used for modifying electrospun carbon nanofibers to boost the growth of Ni 3 Se 4 . Interestingly, various types of lignin could induce the aggregation and distribution of Co nanoparticles, leading to different crystal structures, morphologies, and amounts of Ni-based selenides. Among them, sodium lignosulphonate brought about Co nanoparticles inside nanofibers and the formation of S–Co bonds, leading to the massive growth of Ni 3 Se 4 nanosheets with high redox activities and abundant active sites. As a result, the sample modified by Co and sodium lignosulphonate (CFLS@NiSe) with a diffusion-controlled hybrid capacity displayed the highest value of 384.00 C g −1 (853.33 F g −1 ) at 0.5 A g −1 and acceptable rate performance (capacity retention of 39 %, from 0.5 to 10 A g −1 ), which exceeded many reported transition metal selenide-carbon composites. Furthermore, a hybrid solid-state supercapacitor (CFLS@NiSe//bamboo derived active carbon) with a high energy density of 61.33 Wh kg −1 was assembled, which could supply energy for light emitting diode and deliver a capacity retention of 94.15 % as well as Coulombic efficiency of 92.29 % after 10,000 cycles. Compared with traditional modification strategies, this work proposed a novel, facile, feasible, low cost and environmentally friendly method to modify carbon nanofibers to regulate the growth of selenides, which will offer ideas for the design of composite materials.