Microwave-mediated synthesis of carbon nanotubes/graphene composite for enhanced supercapacitor performance

摘要

Graphene, an atomic thick graphite sheet with extraordinary physical and chemical properties has aroused widely scientific and technological interest since its potential applications as energy storage materials, field emitters, and chemical sensors. For the sake of improved performances in these applications, the integration of graphene sheets with other functional materials, especially carbon nanotubes(CNTs) from which synergistic effects can be accomplished, has been widely demonstrated with enhanced properties. However, the approaches to CNTs/graphene composite proposed currently are either time-consuming or energy-consuming. Therefore,an efficient method for this novel hybrid is highly demanded. Here, we report a microwave-mediated strategy involving the utilization of amphiphilicity of graphite oxide (GO) to disperse CNTs uniformly in aqueous phase, followed by using the strong microwave absorption capacity of CNTs to trigger avalanche-like deoxygenation of GO under non-solvent condition, to give rise to the CNTs/graphene composite. The as-obtained CNTs/graphene has been systematically investigated by SEM, TEM, FTIR and nitrogen adsorption technique. We demonstrate that the CNTs/graphene composite obtained from this method exhibit excellent electrochemical performance as electrode materials in supercapacitor. These results have demonstrated the potential of microwave heating for the efficient production of graphene-based composite with potential in the energy conversion and storage.