Investigation of metal hydroxides graphene composites as electrode materials for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

The aim and objectives of this work are to optimize the synthesis of metal hydroxides - graphene foam (GF) composites using different configurations of graphene with a facile and environmentally friendly solvothermal technique for energy storage applications. The evaluation of the morphological, structural, surface area and compositional properties of the composites were carried out with the techniques such as field emission-electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The results show the existence of interlaced sheets of metal-hydroxides-graphene composites with sufficient surface area necessary for efficient charge storage. The main reason for incorporating graphene foam (GF) into these metal hydroxides in this study was due to its unique mechanical properties, good conductivity and large surface area which offer the possibility for an enhanced deposition/adsorption of the active metal hydroxides both in-situ and as a supporting template for practical applications. The electrochemical properties of the synthesized composite electrodes modified with different graphene foam nanostructures were thus explicated in a 3-electrode system (with Ag/AgCl as reference electrode)and they all showed excellent electrochemical performance. The overall results clearly demonstrated an excellent potential of graphene based composite electrode materials for energy storage applications.