Biocompatible synthesis of rGO from ginger extract as a green reducing agent and its supercapacitor application

Abstract

Ginger extract (GE) was employed for the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by refluxing in an aqueous medium with different reduction times. The reduced GO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate structural, chemical bonding and functional groups, respectively. The XRD results reveal that the maximum reduction GO was observed at 12 h. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the formation of a thin sheet-like structure for ginger reduced graphene oxide (GRG12). The electrochemical properties of GRG samples were further evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The GRG12 showed the highest specific capacitance value of 99.61 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1 with cycling stability of 98% after 1000 cycles. This study demonstrates the potential of GE for the reduction of GO and efficiency of the reduced product for application in supercapacitors.