Anodic composite deposition of RuO₂/reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotube for advanced supercapacitors

Anodic composite deposition is demonstrated to be a unique method for fabricating a ternary ruthenium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotube (RuO2 xH2O/rGO/CNT, denoted as RGC) nanocomposite onto Ti as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitors. The rGO/CNT composite in RGCs acts as a conductive backbone to facilitate the electron transport between current collector and RuO2 xH2O nanoparticles (NPs), revealed by the high total specific capacitance (C(S,T) = 808 F g(-1)) of RGC without annealing. The contact resistance among RuO2 xH2O NPs is improved by low-temperature annealing at 150 °C (RGC-150), which renders slight sintering and enhances the specific capacitance of RuO2 xH2O to achieve 1200 F g(-1). The desirable nanocomposite microstructure of RGC-150 builds up the smooth pathways of both protons and electrons to access the active oxy-ruthenium species. This nanocomposite exhibits an extremely high C(S,T) of 973 F g(-1) at 25 mV s(-1) (much higher than 435 F g(-1) of an annealed RuO2 xH2O deposit) and good capacitance retention (60.5% with scan rate varying from 5 to 500 mV s(-1)), revealing an advanced electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors.