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In this work, nickel oxide (NiO) films have been prepared by a sparking method on a flexible chromium/gold coated polyethylene terephthalate substrates and investigated for electrochemical energystorage applications. Structural characterizations by scanning/transmission electron microscopies, X-ray 10 diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis spectrophotometer reveal that the film comprises polycrstalline NiO nanoparticles with diameters in the range of 3.0-6.0 nm loosely agglomerated into porous foam-like network. The nanoporous sparked NiO films, exhibits remarkable energy-storage behavior with a high average specific charge capacity of 402.75 C g -1 at a discharge current of 1 A g -1 and a good capacity retention of 88% after 1000 cycles at a high discharge current of 40 15 A g -1 . Thus, the sparking method is a promising alternative route for the preparation of high-performance electrochemical energy-storage devices. 65 storage performances are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) measurements. Materials and methodsThe schematic illustration of the sparking apparatus for the fabrication of NiO nanoparticles (NiO-NPs) and NiO films is 70

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were deposited by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) onBombyx mori(silk) andCannabis sativa L. var.sativa (hemp) fibers to improve their mechanical properties. The CNTs were functionalized in mixed acids in order to introduce carboxylic acid groups on their surfaces. The tensile strength and strain at break point of both the modified fibers were approximately two times higher than those of the virgin natural fibers. The addition of small amounts of Mg(NO3)2.6H2O, (CH3COO)2Ni.4H2O significantly improved the deposition of the functionalized CNTs on the hemp fibers.