Electrochemically reduced graphene oxides/nanostructured iron oxides as binder-free electrodes for supercapacitors

In this work, a facile approach was applied to prepare composites of electrochemically reduced graphene (ecrGO) oxides and iron oxides (FeOx) as binder-free electrodes for enhancing the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors. The iron oxides were intercalated between the graphene oxides sheets to form sandwich-like composites, such composites were electrochemically reduced in an alkaline solution and directly used as electrodes without any binders. The as-obtained composite (ecrGO/FeOx) shows a good mechanical strength according to the SEM and Raman results, also exhibits high specific capacitance (C-sp) of similar to 235 Fg (1) at a scan rate of 10 mV s (1) and good cycling stability of 92% retention after 2000 cycles in 1 M NaOH. Although there is a decline of C-sp for the ecrGO/FeOx composite because of the high charge transfer resistance and poor conductivity of the iron oxides, it still possesses a higher C-sp than ecrGO when the scan rate increases to 400 mV s (1). The relative high C-sp and good stability of ecrGO/iron oxides composites due to the synergistic effect between ecrGO and iron oxides during the electrochemical processes, indicates it can be a promising candidate for supercapacitors. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.