High-Level Supercapacitive Performance of Chemically Reduced Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Electrode materials of commercial supercapacitors are mostly made of activated carbons, offering insufficient capacitance at high cost. Graphene-based materials with characteristic electrical double-layer capacitance (EDLC) are emerging as smart alternatives. Hybrids of EDLC and pseudocapacitance are being explored for boosting the overall performance. However, the cycling stability of such hybrid supercapacitors is often far below 100,000 cycles. Here, we report an unconventional approach to producing reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which can be readily used as an active material for the fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes. The reducing agent can be easily recycled for subsequent feeds of graphene oxide (GO) reduction. The impressive performance of our as-synthesized rGO in all-solid-state-supercapacitor applications holds promise for translation to the industrial level. The potential window was also increased up to 2.5 V with the use of organic electrolyte.