Abstract
Abstract
This study demonstrates a time-efficient, non-hazardous, chemical free, eco-friendly controllable reduction approach to reduce graphene oxide (GO) and in turn its usage as supercapacitor electrode. The electrochemical charge storage (supercapacitive) performance of the electrode was investigated with 0.3 M Fe3+ + PVA-1M H2SO4 gel electrolyte. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (with varied wt. percentages) incorporated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) samples were characterized with field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques. Effective surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of the hybrid were determined through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurement technique. The energy storage performance was evaluated using 0.3 M Fe3+ + PVA-1M H2SO4 gel electrolyte, which resulted in an impressive specific capacitance of 1326.92 Fg−1 at 7.5 Ag−1. Symmetric supercapacitor assembled by rGO/MWCNT-5 electrode with 0.3 M Fe3+ + PVA-1M H2SO4 electrolyte, has an energy density of 36.56 Wh kg−1 with power density of 4874.66 W kg−1. These observations can pave a new way to fabricate nano-carbons based high capacity energy storage devices.