Aluminum based metal-organic framework integrated with reduced graphene oxide for improved supercapacitive performance

Integration of aluminum-terephthalate metal-organic frameworks, MIL-53 (Al) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) leads to the formation of MIL-53 (Al)@rGO hybrid materials with superior charge storage properties. This work reports the synthesis of MIL-53 (Al)@rGO nanocomposites through solvothermal method and study of their electrochemical charge storage properties. The optimized composite of MIL-53 (Al) and rGO (coded as C-10) exhibits a specific capacitance of 280 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1). Furthermore, electrochemical measurements, carried out in a symmetric two-electrode configuration, revealed that the hybrid composite C-10 reached an energy density of 6.66 Wh kg(-1) and a power density of 3655 W kg(-1). It displayed a capacitance retention of 50% after 5,000 charge/discharge cycles. Integration of MIL-53(Al) and rGO leads to the creation of alternate pathways for ion-diffusion, hierarchical pore features, greater exposure of MIL-53 (Al) clusters as redox active sites attributed to their uniform distribution on rGO sheets, resulting in better charge storage performance. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.