Surfactant-intercalated, chemically reduced graphene oxide for high performance supercapacitor electrodes

Abstract

A series of surfactant-stabilized graphene materials were prepared by intercalation of graphene oxide (GO) with different surfactants, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), followed by reduction using hydrazine. The materials were fully characterized, and the surfactants were found to be successfully intercalated in both GO and the reduced graphene oxide. As well as stabilizing the morphology of single layer or few-layer structure of graphene sheets during reduction, the presence of surfactants in graphene materials can also enhance the wettability of the graphene surface and thus improve its performance as a supercapacitor electrode. When the graphene materials were used as an electrode for a supercapacitor, the highest specific capacitance of 194 F g⁻¹ was obtained from the TBAOH stabilized graphene at a specific current density of 1 A g⁻¹ in 2 M H₂SO₄ electrolyte.