Fabrication of two-dimensional reduced graphene oxide supported V2O5 networks and their application in supercapacitors

For metal oxide based supercapacitor electrodes, the structure and conductivity of the active material play a dominant role in determining the performance of the supercapacitors. In this work V2O5/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid nanostructures are fabricated. This hybrid electrode utilizes the advantage of high conductivity nature of rGO and electrochemical activity of V2O5. These advantages together between V2O5 and rGO lead to a higher specific capacitance (484 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1)), rate capacity (251 F g(-1) at 10 A g(-1)) and cyclic stability (83% up to 1000 cycles) compared to pristine V2O5 and other reported V2O5/rGO based composites. The presence of rGO acted as two dimensional (2D) physical support and enhances its electrochemical features significantly. An aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor is fabricated utilizing V2O5/rGO hybrid nanostructures and activated carbon as the electrodes. It exhibits specific capacitance of 53 F g(-1) with an energy density of 7.4 Wh kg(-1). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.