Design and green synthesis of 1‐(4‐ferrocenylbutyl)piperazine chemically grafted reduced graphene oxide for supercapacitor application

Abstract

In this paper, we report the green synthesis of 1‐(4‐ferrocenylbutyl)piperazine chemically grafted rGO (P.Fc/rGO) as a battery‐type supercapacitor electrode material. For this purpose, initially, the ability of the aqueous Damson fruit extract is investigated in the reduction reaction of graphene oxide (GO). 1‐(4‐ferrocenylbutyl)piperazine (P.Fc) is synthesized via nucleophilic substitution reaction of piperazine with as‐synthesized 4‐chlorobutylferrocene. In continue, P. Fc is incorporated to GO by ring‐opening reaction of epoxide groups on the GO surface. In the next step, the modified reduction method by aqueous Damson fruit extract was used to prepare the P.Fc/rGO from P.Fc/GO. The prepared materials were characterized by various techniques including FT‐IR, Uv–vis, XRD, SEM, EDX, and BET. N2 adsorption–desorption data of P.Fc/rGO nanocomposite shows that the surface area is 37.746 m2 g−1. The capability of P.Fc/rGO nanocomposite for using as an energy storage electrode material in battery‐type supercapacitor was examined by investigation of its electrochemical behavior by CV, EIS, and GCD measurements. The charge storage capacity of 1,102 mAh g−1 is achieved at 2.5 A g−1. This nanocomposite shows 89% retention of charge storage capacity after 2000 CV cycles.