Characteristics and electrochemical performance of Ni-coated ZnO prepared by an electroless plating process

ZnO was coated homogeneously with amorphous Ni film by an electroless plating process. After electroless Ni plating, transmission electron microscope (TEM) images and energy dispersive spectrometry spectra (EDS) of ZnO clearly indicated that Ni was coated on the surface of ZnO, the coatings and ZnO contacted enough. X-ray diffraction and high-resolution TEM showed that the Ni film on ZnO was amorphous. Electrochemical performance of Ni-coated ZnO was investigated by the galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling test. Compared to that of uncoated ZnO, the charging–discharging performance of Ni-coated ZnO was obviously improved, e.g. the average discharge capacity of the Ni-coated ZnO increased 71.5% at the stage of stable cycling test.