Preparation of rGO/NiO Composites by Nanosecond Pulsed DBD and its Electrochemical Properties

Abstract

Graphene/transition metal oxide composite materials are considered to be ideal energy storage electrode materials for supercapacitors. The plasma material preparation technology can modify the materials’ structure by the reactive species in plasma and thus improve the material energy storage performance, but the process is complex and the influence of plasma parameters on the material preparation process needs further study. In this paper, the reduced graphene oxide/nickel oxide (rGO/NiO) composites were prepared by nanosecond pulse-driven argon coaxial Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD). The correlation between the surface morphology, chemical composition and electrochemical properties of rGO/NiO composite materials prepared by nanosecond pulse DBD plasma at different voltage amplitudes is analyzed. According to the study, when voltage amplitude increased, the stratification of the exterior morphology of composite material was more obvious, the graphene oxide (GO) reduction was higher, and more NiO crystals were attached, which supported the GO reduction and avoided the occurrence of agglomeration. Electrochemical tests have shown that plasma technology can significantly enhance the capacitance capability of composites, and under higher voltage amplitude processing conditions, its capacitance capability is better, the internal resistance is smaller, and the charge transfer rate is higher. This paper studies the influence of plasma technology on the preparation of rGO/NiO composite materials under different operating parameters, and provides an experimental basis for the preparation of high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials.