A high voltage solid state symmetric supercapacitor based on graphene–polyoxometalate hybrid electrodes with a hydroquinone doped hybrid gel-electrolyte

Abstract

In pursuit of high capacitance and high energy density storage devices, hybrid materials have quickly garnered well-deserved attention based on their power to merge complementary components and properties. Here, we report the fabrication of all-solid state symmetric supercapacitors (ASSSC) based on a double hybrid approach combining a hybrid electrode (reduced graphene oxide–phoshomolybdate, rGO–PMo₁₂) and a hybrid electrolyte (hydroquinone doped gel-electrolyte). To begin with, a high-performance hybrid electrode based on H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ nanodots anchored onto rGO was prepared (rGO–PMo₁₂). Later, an all-solid state symmetric cell based on these rGO–PMo₁₂ electrodes, and making use of a polymer gel-electrolyte was assembled. This symmetric cell showed a significant improvement in cell performance. Indeed, it allowed for an extended potential window by 0.3 V that led to an energy density of 1.07 mW h cm⁻³. Finally, we combined these hybrid electrodes with a hybrid electrolyte incorporating an electroactive species. This is the first proof-of-design where a redox-active solid-state gel-electrolyte is applied to rGO–PMo₁₂ hybrid supercapacitors to accomplish a significant enhancement in the capacitance. Strikingly, a further excellent increase in the device performance (energy density of 1.7 mW h cm⁻³) was realized with the hybrid electrode–hybrid electrolyte combination cell as compared to that of the conventional electrolyte cell. Thus, this unique symmetric device outclasses the high-voltage asymmetric counterparts under the same power and represents a noteworthy advance towards high energy density supercapacitors.