The Anionic Surfactant/Ionic Liquids Intercalated Reduced Graphene Oxide for High-performance Supercapacitors

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Restacking of graphene oxide sheets limits their performance in energy storage applications.
• Controlling interlayer spacing is crucial for optimizing electrolyte accessibility and ion transport.
• Thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRG) offers potential for advanced energy storage due to its unique properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize TRG composites with tunable interlayer distances.
• To investigate the effect of enlarged interlayer spacing on the electrochemical performance of electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) cells.
• To explore a facile method for preventing graphene sheet restacking using surfactant intercalation.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of TRG composites intercalated with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS).
• Enlargement of interlayer distance via Coulomb force interaction between surfactants and ionic liquids.
• Morphological characterization and electrical performance testing of EDLC cells.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of TRG composites with varying interlayer distances.
• Demonstrated improvement in EDLC cell energy density from 34.9 to 61.8 Wh/kg at 1 A/g.
• Correlation established between increased interlayer distance and enhanced accessible surface area for ionic liquid electrolytes.

Conclusions:

• Enlarging the interlayer distance of TRG composites is an effective strategy to boost energy density in EDLCs.
• The Coulomb force interaction provides a facile approach to control graphene oxide interlayer spacing.
• Optimized TRG materials show significant promise for next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices.