Supercapacitor Electrode. Formation Based on Thoil-Functionalized Graphene Oxide

Abstract

For energy storage applications, graphene oxide as a unique material was successfully applied to significantly reduce the cost and enhance the yield of manufacturing high performance electrodes. Among the known strategies in improving the material performance as energy storage device, heteroatom functionalization proved to be efficient. Upon any boost in the capacitance of graphene oxide electrodes by the introduction of pseudocapacitive behavior, a functional hybrid system was provided due to the presence of covalent functionalized graphene oxide with boosted capacitance and redox active thiazole derivatives. In this work an efficient nanomaterial, as the electrode for supercapacitors based on 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol (TDDT) molecules decorated on graphene oxide nanosheets (GO), was synthesized with cost effective, non-complicated and scalable method. 1,3,4-Thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol is covalently grafted onto the graphene oxide nanosheets via 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (TCT) as cross linker (GO–TCT–TDDT). The fabricated nanomaterials were analyzed structurally and morphologically using energy dispersive X-ray diffraction microanalysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Based on electrochemical outcome, glassy carbon modified with GO–TCT–TDDT in comparison with GO benefit from high charge storage performance for supercapacitor which is marked by a high specific capacitance of 140 F g–1 with superior rate capability of 55.7% if the current density increased from 0.1 to 5 A g–1. Moreover, the evaluation of electrode stability demonstrated an approximate fixedness even after 1000 charge–discharge cycles capacitance. Also, 95% of initial capacitance at 0.5 A g–1 was observed in the results.