Reduced graphene oxide as outstanding candidate electrode material for supercapacitor has been investigated. This thesis includes two topics. One is that three kinds of reduced graphene oxides were prepared by hydrothermal reduction under different pH conditions. The pH values were found to have great influence on the reduction of graphene oxides. Acidic and neutral media yielded reduced graphene oxides with more oxygen-functional groups, lower specific surface areas but broader pore size distributions than those in basic medium. Variations induced by the pH changes resulted in great differences in the supercapacitor performance. The graphene produced in the basic solution presented mainly electric double layer behavior with specific capacitance of 185 F/g, while the other two showed additional pseudocapacitance behavior with specific capacitance of 225 F/g (acidic) and 230 F/g (neutral), all at a constant current density of 1A/g. The other one is that different reduced graphene oxides were prepared via solution based hydrazine reduction, low temperature thermal reduction, and hydrothermal reduction. The as- prepared samples were then investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning electron microscope. The supercapacitor performances were also studied and the hydrothermally reduced graphene oxide exhibited the highest specific capacitance.
| Date of Award | Jun 2012 |
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| Original language | English (US) |
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| Awarding Institution | - Physical Sciences and Engineering
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| Supervisor | Husam Alshareef (Supervisor) |
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- Supercapacitor
- Hydrothermal
- Specific Capacitance
- Functionalization
- Graphene
- Reduced graphene oxide