Facile synthesis of Fe3O4 nanorod decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO) for supercapacitor application

Abstract

The development of electrode materials capable of delivering high electrochemical performance is a major challenge. Herein, we demonstrate a facile approach for the synthesis of rod-shaped Fe₃O₄ nanostructures anchored on the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) surface and its application as an active electrode material for supercapacitors. The RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite was prepared by the spontaneous deposition of the rod-like FeOOH nanostructure onto the self-reduced GO surface followed by a thermal annealing process. The physical characterizations demonstrate the decoration of the rod-like Fe₃O₄ nanostructure over the RGO surface. Morphology analysis demonstrates that Fe₃O₄ nanorods with an average size of 150 nm are distributed over the RGO surface. The surface area analysis demonstrates that the as-synthesized RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanorod nanocomposite has 186 m² g⁻¹ specific surface area, which is higher compared to the Fe₃O₄ nanorods. As an active electrode material, the RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite shows excellent electrochemical performance compared to Fe₃O₄ nanorods. On the RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite based electrode a specific capacity of 315 C g⁻¹ was observed at 5 A g⁻¹ current density. Additionally, the RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite based electrode displayed excellent cycling stability with 95% specific capacity retention after 2000 cycles. The electrochemical results demonstrates that the RGO–Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite could be a promising material for energy conversion and storage.