Facile synthesis of Graphene aerogel/Co3O4 nanocomposite by mild chemical reduction method

Production of metallic oxide/graphene aerogel composite system is great importance regarding their super electrochemical and adsorption characteristics. In the present work, Cobalt oxide/graphene aerogel nanocomposite was synthesized via mild reduction in order to the facile, cost effective and environmentally friendly route. L-Ascorbic acid (LAA) was used as both the reducing agent and cross-linker. The formation of Co3O4 was confirmed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. According to microscopic images, the spherical Co3O4 nanoparticles were randomly distributed over the graphene sheets (the size distribution of 8-10 nm). In addition, the BET surface area and the pore volume of composite were estimated 215 (m2.g-1) and 1.22 (cm3.g-1), respectively. Moreover, the bulk density was 19 (mg.cm-3) and the load bearing limit of composite was higher than 2000 times of its own weight. The addition of Co3O4 nanoparticles (in ratio of Co3O4: graphene 1:50) improve specific capacitance of graphene aerogel electrode materials, reaching about 400 F.g-1, suggesting great potential for supercapacitor.

Facile synthesis of Graphene aerogel/Co3O4 nanocomposite by mild chemical reduction method Keywords:

Graphene aerogel , Hummer’s method , mild chemical reduction , L-ascorbic acid , supercapacitor