One-pot synthesis of P-toluidine-reduced graphene oxide/Mn3O4 composite and its electrochemical performance

Abstract

In this paper, a promising electrode material for supercapacitor based on P-toluidine-reduced graphene oxide/Mn3O4 (GM) composite was successfully synthesized through a new one-pot synthesis route. To obtain GM composite, graphite oxide (GO) was reduced by P-toluidine first, and then, the resulting reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was hydrothermally treated accompanied with KMnO4 and K2SO4. The effect of K2SO4 on the microstructure and electrochemical performance of as-synthesized composites was investigated. At the weight feed ratio of the theoretical amount of Mn3O4 to GO is 13:1, the GM composite prepared with K2SO4 displays a network structure, but under the same conditions, GM composite prepared without K2SO4 presents a different-sized lumps structure closely piled up by Mn3O4 nanoparticles. A specific capacitance of the GM composite prepared with K2SO4 reaches to 331.6 F/g, almost two times higher than that of the composite prepared without K2SO4. Moreover, the specific capacitance retention of the composite is above 88% after 1000 cycles at 5.0 A/g.