Shedding Light on Pseudocapacitive Active Edges of Single-Layer Graphene Nanoribbons as High-Capacitance Supercapacitors

Abstract

In the field of energy storage by high-rate supercapacitors, there has been an upper limit for the total interfacial capacitance of carbon-based materials. This upper limit originates from both quantum and electric double-layer capacitances. Surpassing this limit has been the focus of intense research in this field. Here, we precisely investigate the effect of chemical functional groups and physical confinement on the electrochemical performance of graphene nanoribbons. We present the results of a quasi-one-dimensional single-layer graphene nanoribbon (120 nm in width and ∼100 μm in length) microelectrode fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of graphite, followed by electron beam lithography process and oxygen plasma etching treatment. We directly measure the interfacial capacitance as a function of frequency at different potentials in an aqueous electrolyte using a three-electrode electrochemical system. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry tests show an average capacitance of 75...