Electropolymerization and Electrochemical Performance of Nickel Schiff Base Complexes on Reduced Graphene Oxide(RGO) Support for Supercapacitors

Abstract

Supercapacitors have a high power capability and relatively large energy density compared to the conventional capacitors. Conducting polymers have been shown as promising electrode materials because of their high conductivity and fast redox activity. N,N_-ethylenebis(salicylideneaminato) nickel(II), (Ni(salen)), which is the archetype of Schiff base metal complexes, was easily synthesized onto the surface of reduced graphene oxide(RGO) by the route of linear potential sweep. Growth parameters such as the apparent surface coverage and the doping level were investigated to confirm the effects of supports on the Ni(salen) polymerization.SEM, TEM, Raman, and XPS analyses show that the poly(Ni(salen)/RGO composite prepared from this approach,at the same time it exhibited an excellent electrocapacitive performance with a high specific capacitance over 260 F g-1 Fig.1 (a) Polymerization Q varies with polymerization time at different voltages ; (b) GCD curves of MWCNTs and the composites at a current density of 1.0 mA cm2 under the voltage range of 0 V to 1.2 V. Reference 1 Kim, M., Lee, C., & Jang, J. (2014). Fabrication of Highly Flexible, Scalable, and High‐Performance Supercapacitors Using Polyaniline/Reduced Graphene Oxide Film with Enhanced Electrical Conductivity and Crystallinity.Advanced Functional Materials, 24(17), 2489-2499. 2. Salanne, M., Rotenberg, B., Naoi, K., Kaneko, K., Taberna, P. L., Grey, C. P., ... & Simon, P. (2016). Efficient storage mechanisms for building better supercapacitors. Nature Energy, 1, 16070. Acknowledgement This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51372021). Figure 1