In order to produce economically viable supercapacitor devices for electrical energy storage, low cost, and high throughput methods must be developed. We developed a microwave based synthesis for the formation of beta-Ni(OH)(2) for the formation of nickel oxide nanoplates. These nanoplates have shown excellent properties as pseudocapacitive devices with high-specific capacitance. Novel to this article is the use of a microwave reactor which enables a growth process of only 10 min in duration as compared to previous reports requiring a 24 h period. The resulting NiO nanoplates were fully characterized by electron microscopy, electron diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis, and surface area and porosity measurements. Nanoplates formed using the microwave reactor is similar to those formed by hydrothermal processes. NiO-single walled carbon nanotube composites were made without any binder and the specific capacitance was measured using charge discharge techniques.