The pursuit for renewable sources of energy has increased rapidly due to the continuous depletion of nonrenewable sources. Supercapacitors have attracted considerable attention because they can store electrical energy. In this study, a hierarchical mesoporous carbon sphere@nickel cobalt sulfide (CS@Ni-Co-S) core-shell was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method. The reaction involved green synthesis without further sulfurization or post-heat treatment. The CS@Ni-Co-S core-shell microstructures exhibited a high capacitance of 724.4 F g(-1) at 2 A g(-1) in a 6 M KOH electrolyte. Good specific retention of 86.1% and high Coulombic efficiency of 97.9% were obtained after 2000 charge-discharge cycles. High energy density (58.0 Wh kg(-1) at 1440 W kg(-1)) and high power density (34.2 Wh kg(-1) at 7200W kg(-1)) were observed. Through this study, a cost-effective and simple synthesis of CS@Ni-Co-S as an active electrode showed favorable electrochemical performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.