In this work, for the first time, we report the direct coating of ternary chalcogenide-based nanostructured Cu4SnS4 (CTS) thin film electrodes for the energy storage application. The phase purity, composition, microstructure, optical and electrical properties of the synthesized electrode are validated through comprehensive characterization techniques. In the supercapacitive application, the CTS electrode delivers an excellent performance with the maximum specific capacitance of 704 F/g, an energy density of 27.77 Wh/kg and a power density of 7.14 kW/kg in 1 M NaOH electrolyte solution. The intrinsic electrode properties such as the electronic conductivity, crystal structure and film hydrophilicity are found to be influential parameters for the obtained high performance and are studied in detail. Furthermore, the solid-state supercapacitive device fabricated using CTS electrodes and polymer gel electrolyte (PVA/NaOH) in a symmetric configuration, demonstrated the highest specific capacitance of 34.9 F/g with an energy density of 2.4 Wh/kg, a power density of 0.291 kW/kg and more than 89.9% capacitive retention. The presented work reports a simple, cost-effective, scalable and replicable approach for electrode application in supercapacitor industry. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.