Facile synthesis of N-doped graphene oxide decorated with copper ferrite as an electrode material for supercapacitor with enhanced capacitance

Abstract

In the past decade, enormous attempts have been made to modify the effective electrode materials for the construction of supercapacitors. Here, we report a cost-effective, simple, and one-pot hydrothermal technique to fabricate a new nanocomposite based on nitrogen-doped graphene oxide (NGO) nanosheets twisted with copper ferrite nanoparticles (CuFe2O4 NPs) as a new supercapacitor material with outstanding performance. A concurrent synthetic route takes advantage of the synergetic impact caused by the high pseudo-capacitance of CuFe2O4 and the superior electrical conductivity of NGO, resulting in a larger performance improvement of the nanocomposite than that of blank CuFe2O4. The as-prepared NGO/ CuFe2O4 electrode significantly shows an excellent specific capacitance of 348 F/g at 1 A/g current density with superior cycling stability, saving 87% of its first capacitance over 2000 GCD cycles. The electrochemical analysis revealed that the NGO provides a continuous conductive pathway for electron/ion transport and a large surface area and alleviates the significant strain resulting from the volume expansion of CuFe2O4. Furthermore, an asymmetrical supercapacitor is produced by NGO/CuFe2O4 as the positive electrode and activated carbon as the negative electrode, which shows superior electrochemical performance, producing a high energy density (35.79 Wh/kg) and a high-power density (883.09 W/kg) with excellent cycling stability. This article aims to provide a rapid and scalable hydrothermal approach for synthesizing NGO/CuFe2O4 nanocomposites with increased electrochemical efficiency for supercapacitor applications.