Needle-like Co3O4 Anchored on the Graphene with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance for Aqueous Supercapacitors

作者:Guan, Qun; Cheng, Jianli; Wang, Bin*; Ni, Wei; Gu, Guifang; Li, Xiaodong; Huang, Ling; Yang, Guangcheng; Nie, Fude
来源:ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014, 6(10): 7626-7632.
DOI:10.1021/am5009369

摘要

We synthesized the needle-like cobalt oxide/graphene composites with different mass ratios, which are composed of cobalt oxide (Co3O4 or CoO) needle homogeneously anchored on graphene nanosheets as the template, by a facile hydrothermal method. Without the graphene as the template, the cobalt precursor tends to group into urchin-like spheres formed by many fine needles. When used as electrode materials of aqueous supercapacitor, the composites of the needle-like Co3O4/graphene (the mass ratio of graphene oxide(GO) and Co(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O is 1:5) exhibit a high specific capacitance of 157.7 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.1 A g(-1) in 2 mol L-1 KOH aqueous solution as well as good rate capability. Meanwhile, the capacitance retention keeps about 70% of the initial value after 4000 cycles at a current density of 0.2 A g(-1). The enhancement of excellent electrochemical performances may be attributed to the synergistic effect of graphene and cobalt oxide components in the unique multiscale structure of the composites.