Microwave assisted reduction of graphene oxide using multiwalled carbon nanotubes for high performance supercapacitor applications

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 Fe 3+ + PVA-1M H 2 SO 4 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 Fe 3+ + PVA-1M H 2 SO 4 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 Fe 3+ + PVA-1M H 2 SO 4 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.