Multi-walled carbon nanotubes derived graphene nanoribbons for high performance supercapacitor applications

Abstract

This study delineates the supercapacitive performance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes derived nanoribbons. Acid-processed carbon nanotubes were exfoliated and reduced with microwaves to yield high quality graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Morphological and spectroscopic investigations revealed the successful preparation of graphene nanoribbons from carbon nanotubes. The three electrode system configuration with microwave exfoliated graphene nanoribbons (MWGNRs) based working electrode and H2SO4-PVA gel electrolyte has shown high specific capacitance of 404 F/g at 2 mVs−1 scan rate. This three electrode configuration showed 97.3% of initial capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles, which proves good cycle stability and retention capability of the MWGNRs based electrode with gel electrolyte. A supercapacitive device with MWGNRs based electrodes and 1 M H2SO4 –PVA gel electrolyte was fabricated and tested, which also showed high supercapacitive performance. MWGNRs have more number of reactive edges and high specific surface area as compared to pristine carbon nanotubes and therefore exhibit high specific capacitance. The proposed method is highly scalable and can pave a way to develop high performance low cost supercapacitors.