Capacitance Enhancement of Hydrothermally Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanofibers

Nanocarbon materials present sp<sup>2</sup>-carbon domains skilled for electrochemical energy conversion or storage applications. In this work, we investigate graphene oxide nanofibers (GONFs) as a recent interesting carbon material class. This material combines the filamentous morpholog...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniel Torres, Sara Pérez-Rodríguez, David Sebastián, José Luis Pinilla, María Jesús Lázaro, Isabel Suelves
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
Series:Nanomaterials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/10/6/1056
Description
Summary:Nanocarbon materials present sp<sup>2</sup>-carbon domains skilled for electrochemical energy conversion or storage applications. In this work, we investigate graphene oxide nanofibers (GONFs) as a recent interesting carbon material class. This material combines the filamentous morphology of the starting carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and the interlayer spacing of graphene oxide, and exhibits a domain arrangement accessible for fast transport of electrons and ions. Reduced GONFs (RGONFs) present the partial removal of basal functional groups, resulting in higher mesoporosity, turbostratic stacking, and surface chemistry less restrictive for transport phenomena. Besides, the filament morphology minimizes the severe layer restacking shown in the reduction of conventional graphene oxide sheets. The influence of the reduction temperature (140–220 °C) on the electrochemical behaviour in aqueous 0.5 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> of RGONFs is reported. RGONFs present an improved capacitance up to 16 times higher than GONFs, ascribed to the unique structure of RGONFs containing accessible turbostratic domains and restored electronic conductivity. Hydrothermal reduction at 140 °C results in the highest capacitance as evidenced by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (up to 137 F·g<sup>−1</sup>). Higher temperatures lead to the removal of sulphur groups and slightly thicker graphite domains, and consequently a decrease of the capacitance.
ISSN:2079-4991