Reduced Graphene Oxide-Tailored CuFe2O4 Nanoparticles as an Electrode Material for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Abstract

Transition metal oxide-based magnetic nanocomposites attract great attention due to their unique properties and applications in the field of energy storage. Herein, we present a facile microwave procedure for the synthesis of CuFe2O4 (CF) and CuFe2O4 incorporated with reduced graphene oxide CuFe2O4/rGO (CG) as potential electrode materials for hybrid supercapacitor. The structure and morphology of CF and CG nanoparticles are examined. The electrochemical performance is studied in 6 M aqueous KOH electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The attractive CG nanocomposite exhibits high specific capacity of 800 C/g at a current density of 2 A/g and better cycling stability when compared to pure CF, due to the formation of nanostructure composed of ferrite nanoparticles homogeneously incorporated onto rGO sheets. Furthermore, the practicability of CG electrode is investigated by the fabrication of CG and activated carbon. The hybrid supercapacitor device shows excellent electrochemical performance with specific energy of 18.3 Wh/kg and a specific power of 455 W/kg. It is noteworthy that the cyclic stability is excellent with a capacity retention of ~98% after 3000 cycles manifesting the superiority of CG electrode. The proposed device demonstrates the potential to fabricate other metal oxides with activated carbon via a facile synthesis method for promoting application in energy storage materials and promoting new opportunities of binary nanocomposite.