Synthetic nanoarchitectonics with ultrafast Joule heating of graphene-based electrodes for high energy density supercapacitor application

Abstract

This study presents a novel approach for the development of high-performance supercapacitor (SC) electrodes using the Flash Joule Heating (FJH) method. Here, we report a direct and rapid synthesis of graphene-based electrodes via FJH. The technique involves microwave-assisted decomposition of citric acid and urea to form CNDs as precursors, followed by Flash Joule Heating (FJH) leading to the formation of graphene in seconds. The scalability of this method paves the way for the rapid production of graphene-based SC electrodes. Based on the characterisation using XRD, Raman, SEM and TEM, the FJH-treated CNDs yielded graphene on carbon fibre cloth with well-defined morphologies leading to superior electrochemical performance in supercapacitors. The FJH processed electrodes exhibited exceptional electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 279 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, significantly outperforming unflashed and low current flash processed electrodes. This exceptional performance can be attributed to the formation of high-quality, few-layered graphene with enhanced electrical conductivity and efficient ion transport properties. Moreover, a Symmetric supercapacitor is also assembled which demonstrated a specific capacitance of 106.5 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹. It also exhibited an impressive energy density of 44.4 W h kg−1 at a power density of 1000 W kg⁻¹. This work demonstrates the feasibility of FJH as a rapid, scalable and cost-effective technique for the production of high-performance graphene-based electrodes for supercapacitor applications.