Graphite, Graphite Oxide, Graphene Oxide, and Reduced Graphene Oxide as Active Materials for Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors: A comparative Study

Abstract

In this paper report we compare the properties and the performance of four different carbonaceous materials, namely graphite, graphite oxide, graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide, as active materials for electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Compared to ordinary graphite, and graphite oxide, rGO have superior capacitive behavior and power output in EDLCs due to their unique nanoporous structure, porosity and enormous BET surface area close to 1200 m2g-1. The electrochemical properties of these carbonaceous materials were determined by cyclic voltammetry. The result of this investigations indicate reduced graphene oxide as a very promissing candidate for the realization of high performance EDLCs, able to display high energy and high power. In the potential range of (0 to -0.8) V, rGO has the specific capacitance of 85.9 Fg-1 in 1 molL-1 LiNO3 solution using three-electrode system. A further analysis of the electrochemical behavior in different electrolytic aqueous media showed that in Li+ solution rGO have the highest capacitance, as we compare to Na+ and K+ solutions.