A new hybrid material: monolithic biomorphic carbon/nickel nanoparticles for energy storage devices

A simple, inexpensive, and ecologically safe method has been used to obtain a new hybrid material–biomorphic carbon/nickel nanoparticles (bioC/NiNPs) composite–comprising a highly porous, partly graphitized carbon matrix (bioC) containing uniformly distributed nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs) with 5–70 nm dimensions. Transmission electron microscopy investigation showed that the bioC matrix consists predominantly of onion-like carbon with hollow capsules/pores about 5 nm in size and also contains graphite globules with dimensions up to 200 nm. The obtained bioC/NiNPs composite demonstrates high electrochemical capacitance stable up to about 1000 charge/discharge cycles and can be considered as promising material for monolithic electrodes of supercapacitors.