Abstract
Antimony species was chemically anchored on graphene oxide using antimony (III) chloride precursor and then converted to the reduced graphene oxide-antimony species composite by a well-established polyol method. The resultant composite was successfully used as supercapacitor electrodes in a two-electrode symmetric system with aqueous electrolyte. The specific capacitance calculated from the galvanostatic charge/discharge curves obtained for this composite was 289 F/g. The enhanced capacitance results were confirmed by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The high capacitance of the reduced graphene oxide-antimony species composite arises from the combination of double-layer charging and pseudocapacitance caused by the Faradaic reactions of the intercalated antimony species and residual surface-bonded functional groups.
Highlights
Antimony is widely used in semiconductors, antifriction alloys, small arms and tracer bullets, and cable sheathing and in large quantities as a flame retarding additive [1]
It is well known that antimony corrodes but results [5] suggest that the antimonycontaining corrosion layer discharges with difficulty, and the active material discharges more readily than the corrosion layer and a passivation layer does not form at the grid/active material interface
As far as we know, application of graphene oxide-antimony species composites as a supercapacitor electrode was never reported before, though we have found some preliminary trials to synthesize peroxoantimonates on graphene oxide [16], simulate antimony (V) chloride intercalations into graphene sheets [17], and remove of antimony (III) from aqueous solution using graphene [18]
Summary
Antimony is widely used in semiconductors, antifriction alloys, small arms and tracer bullets, and cable sheathing and in large quantities as a flame retarding additive [1]. It appears that addition of antimony to the active material of electrode effectively retards capacitance loss These opinions seem to be true because antimony has been thoroughly examined as an additive in newer energy sources, that is, lithium-ion batteries, liquid metal batteries, and fuel cells. Activated carbon that can be prepared from the various natural or synthetic precursors and can possess well-defined pore structure is still the main supercapacitors material because of very high surface area, low price, and light weight [19] This situation may change using graphene, the parent of all graphitic forms, which emerges as a material of great interest due to its remarkable physical, chemical, and electrical properties. As antimony exhibited the advantageous effects in the lead acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries, it has been tried to embed antimony species into graphene oxide and examine this composite as the electrode for supercapacitor
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