Comparison in Factors Affecting Electrochemical Properties of Thermal-Reduced Graphene Oxide for Supercapacitors

Authors

Peng XIAO, School of Material Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China;Laboratory of Clean Energy Chemistry and Materials, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
Da-Hui WANG, School of Material Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China;Follow
Jun-Wei LANG, Laboratory of Clean Energy Chemistry and Materials, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;Follow

Corresponding Author

Da-Hui WANG(wangdh@lut.cn);
Jun-Wei LANG(jwlang@licp.cas.cn)

Abstract

In this paper, thermal-reduced graphene oxide (T-RGO) materials are synthesized by modified Hummer’s method, followed by thermal reduction under argon atmosphere at different temperatures. Electrochemical investigations show that, for T-RGO electrodes, good electrical conductivity is necessary and the surface functional groups play more significant role than the specific surface area in determining the electrochemical capacitance. The T-RGO obtained at 900 °C (T-RGO900) with a relatively high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (314 m²·g^-1) and a high electrical conductivity (2421 S·m^-1) shows a low specific capacitance of 56 F·g^-1. In comparison, the T-RGO obtained at 300 °C (T-RGO300) with a relatively low BET surface area (18.8 m²·g^-1) and an electrical conductivity (574 S·m^-1) provides the largest specific capacitance of 281 F·g^-1. The large specific capacitance of T-RGO300 results from the simultaneous contributions of the electrochemical double-layer capacitance and the pseudo-capacitance obtained from the oxygenated groups on the T-RGO surfaces. Therefore, it probably gives a new insight for designing and synthesizing graphene-based electrode materials for supercapacitors and other energy-storage devices.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

graphene, pseudo-capacitance, supercapacitor, surface functional groups, thermal reduction

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.13208/j.electrochem.140213

Publication Date

2014-12-28

Online Available Date

2014-05-16

Revised Date

2014-05-06

Received Date

2014-02-13

Recommended Citation

Peng XIAO, Da-Hui WANG, Jun-Wei LANG. Comparison in Factors Affecting Electrochemical Properties of Thermal-Reduced Graphene Oxide for Supercapacitors[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2014 , 20(6): 553-562.
DOI: 10.13208/j.electrochem.140213
Available at: https://jelectrochem.xmu.edu.cn/journal/vol20/iss6/9