International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.44, No.21, 11240-11246, 2019
The choice of noble electrolyte for symmetric polyurethane-graphene composite supercapacitors
Simple, low cost, highly conducting, flexible, lightweight and porous electrodes are prepared using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for energy storage device applications. Graphene oxide (GO) slurry is prepared using graphite powder through oxidation followed by solvothermal reduction. A simple dip and dry method to fabricate flexible electrodes by depositing GO on the skeleton of foams is reported. These electrodes are chemically reduced to enhance the conductivity and are used as an electrode material to facilitate large surface area and fast ionic diffusion. The state of the art of present work is all the devices studied under open air condition. The electrochemical studies demonstrate that the constructed supercapacitors exhibit a high specific capacitance of 69 F/g in 1 M NaOH electrolyte at 2 mVs(-1) scan rate which is significantly high. Also, the devices showed encouraging performance when constructed with different electrolytes, which helps to understand the electrolytic effect and to choose the best electrolyte for the high performance of supercapacitors. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.