Enhanced electrochemical performance of porous activated carbon by forming composite with graphene as high-performance supercapacitor electrode material

• Published in: Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology Vol. 19; no. 2; p. 1
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhi-Hang, Yang, Jia-Ying, Wu, Xiong-Wei, Chen, Xiao-Qing, Yu, Jin-Gang, Wu, Yu-Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Carbon; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Inorganic Chemistry; Lasers; Materials Science; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physical Chemistry; Research Paper; Supercapacitor; Ultrasonic assembly; Composite; Graphene; Activated carbon
• ISSN: 1388-0764; 1572-896X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11051-017-3778-x

In this work, a novel activated carbon containing graphene composite was developed using a fast, simple, and green ultrasonic-assisted method. Graphene is more likely a framework which provides support for activated carbon (AC) particles to form hierarchical microstructure of carbon composite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurement, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectra analysis, XRD, and XPS were used to analyze the morphology and surface structure of the composite. The electrochemical properties of the supercapacitor electrode based on the as-prepared carbon composite were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), charge/discharge, and cycling performance measurements. It exhibited better electrochemical performance including higher specific capacitance (284 F g −1 at a current density of 0.5 A g −1 ), better rate behavior (70.7% retention), and more stable cycling performance (no capacitance fading even after 2000 cycles). It is easier for us to find that the composite produced by our method was superior to pristine AC in terms of electrochemical performance due to the unique conductive network between graphene and AC.