Electrochemical performance of nickel cobalt oxide-reduced graphene oxide-polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite

Abstract

Thin films of nickel cobalt oxide-reduced graphene oxide-polyvinyl alcohol (NCO-RGO-PVA) nanocomposite have been prepared for their use as electrode material for flexible supercapacitors. At first graphene oxide, synthesized by modified Hummer’s method, is reduced to reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Then, the nickel cobalt oxide nanoparticles have been prepared by hydrothermal method. Finally films of NCO-RGO-PVA have been prepared by chemical method. As prepared nanocomposite is then characterized structurally by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Also the crystallite size corresponding to prominent plane is calculated and it comes out to be ∼6 nm confirming the formation of nanocomposite. Electrochemical properties are interrogated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge method. The nanocomposite films exhibit the specific capacitance of 127 Fg−1 at the current density of 0.67 Ag−1 and corresponding energy and power density comes out to be 17.6 Whkg−1 and 371 Wkg−1 respectively. The results show that the prepared nanocomposite can be a good electrode material for flexible supercapacitors.