Redox-Active Phenanthrenequinone Molecules and Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide as Active Material Composites for Supercapacitor Applications
Navid Noor, Thomas E. Baker, Hye-Jin Lee, Elliot Evans, Shayan Angizi, Jeffrey D. Henderson, Amirhossein Rakhsha, Drew Higgins
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Carbon-based supercapacitor electrodes are generally restricted in energy density, as they rely exclusively on electric double-layer capacitance (EDLC). The introduction of redox-active organic molecules to obtain pseudocapacitance is a promising route to develop electrode materials with improved energy densities. In this work, we develop a porous nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone composite (N-HtrGO/PQ) via a facile one-step physical adsorption method. The electrochemical evaluation of N-HtrGO/PQ using cyclic voltammetry showed a high capacitance of 605 F g –1 in 1 M H 2 SO 4 when the composite consisted of 30% 9,10-phenanthrenequinone and 70% N-HtrGO. The measured capacitance significantly exceeded pure N-HtrGO without the addition of redox-active molecules (257 F g –1 ). In addition to promising capacitance, the N-HtrGO/30PQ composite showed a capacitance retention of 94.9% following 20,000 charge/discharge cycles. Based on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we postulate that the strong π–π interaction between PQ molecules and the N-HtrGO substrate enhances the specific capacitance of the composite by shortening pathways for electron transfer while improving structural stability.