Facile preparation of graphene by high-temperature electrolysis and its application in supercapacitor

Abstract

Graphene is well known owing to its astonishing properties: stronger than diamond, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber. Because of its potential uses in industry, researchers have been searching for less toxicity ways to make graphene in large amount with lower cost. We demonstrated an efficient method to prepare graphene by high temperature electrolysis technique. High resolution scanning electron microscopy and raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of graphene. Graphene was assembled into the supercapacitor and its performance of electrochemical capacitor was investigated by constant current charge and discharge, cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance. The results showed that the micro-morphology of the prepared graphene was multilayer and it was favorable when the electrolytic voltage was 1.5V. When the current density is 1mA/cm², the specific capacitance of the graphene supercapacitor can reach78.01F/g in 6mol/L KOH electrolyte, which was an increase of 114% compared with 36.43F/g of conventional KOH electrolyte.