Crumpled Graphene\nDecorated with Manganese Ferrite\nNanoparticles for Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing and Electrochemical Supercapacitors

Abstract

Nanomaterials properties\nare deeply dependent on several features,\nbeing easily tuned according to its composition, shape, and dimensionality.\nGraphene, a two-dimensional (2D) material has outstanding properties\nthat may be tailored by turning its shape to 3D conformations, similar\nto crumpled paper ball-like structures. Thus, some drawbacks related\nto graphene restacking could be avoided, besides enlightening a way\nto explore the properties of graphene-based materials. Herein, we\nsynthesize crumpled graphene structures fully decorated by manganese\nferrite (MnFe₂O₄) nanoparticles in one single\nstep. The samples were produced using an aerosol-assisted capillary\ncompression process and the crumpled paper-ball-like shape of the\ncomposites could be adjusted to incorporate increasing amounts of\nmanganese ferrite nanoparticles. We explored two different applications\nfor the obtained materials: as an electrochemical sensor for hydrogen\nperoxide, and electrochemical supercapacitors. As a proof-of-concept,\nwe synthesized bare manganese ferrite and a composite of flat rGO:MnFe₂O₄, which assisted us to certify that the best\nperformance is related to the synergistic effect between components,\nthe ratio between them, and the proper shape of the composite.