Fabrication of high-performance symmetric supercapacitor of graphene electrodes by tuning their electrochemical properties

Abstract

The electrochemical efficiency of a supercapacitor highly depends on the electrochemical properties of electrodes used in its fabrication. Herein, we synthesize highly efficient reduced graphene oxide (rGO) electrodes by tuning the concentration of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a binder through solvent evaporation. The structural, morphological, and electrochemical properties of rGO/PVDF composite electrodes are characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Transmission scanning electron microscopy (TEM), Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic charge-discharge analysis (GCD), and Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The rGO/PVDF composite electrodes possess an elliptical-shaped voltammogram with high symmetry, and quasi-triangular-shaped GCD curves indicating the ideal supercapacitor characteristic with excellent charging-discharging stability. The highest specific capacitance of 307 F/g at a scan rate of 100 mV/s and 1080 F/g at a current of 0.1 mA was obtained for the PvG2 electrode. The symmetric electrical double layer (EDLC) supercapacitor fabricated using the PvG2 electrode has an elliptical-shaped voltammogram with high symmetry, which indicates ideal supercapacitor behaviour. The highest power and energy densities gained for the supercapacitors are 2400 W/Kg and 24.1 Wh/Kg at 0.02A and 0.003 A respectively. Furthermore, approximately 78.9 % of capacitance retention and 91.03 % coulombic efficiency were observed for supercapacitors after 5000 cycles.