Facile Fabrication of Nanoparticles Confined in Graphene Films and Their Electrochemical Properties

Abstract

The development of novel nanostructured electrode materials with high performance and based on abundant elements is a key element in the societal pursuit of sustainable energy. Graphene-based structures with rich macroporosity and high conductive networks are promising components to develop novel electrode materials. Herein, we described a facile procedure to confine Ni(OH)2 particles in a graphene film, leading to a new sandwich-like hybrid structure. The hybrid film offers simultaneously ordered ion diffusion channels and high electrical conductivity, which facilitate the improvement of both electrode kinetics and electrochemical stability, thus leading to high capacitance, fast rate capability, and stable cycle life as supercapacitor materials. This work provides a facile pathway for optimized structures for electrode materials, and represents a benefit for the global issues of energy shortage and environmental pollution.

Design of graphene-coated hollow mesoporous carbon spheres as high performance electrodes for capacitive deionization

“…Various "spacers" such as metal oxides, conductive polymers, and carbon materials were chosen to incorporate into the interlayers of graphene. [26][27][28] However, most of the non-carbon "spacers" improve the electrochemical properties by increasing the pseudo-capacitance, which is not helpful for the improvement of CDI capacity. Besides, the carbon "spacers" such as activated carbon and mesoporous carbon are usually clumpy and massive, which cannot be well distributed in the graphene sheets and thus it is hard to ensure the effective exfoliation of graphene sheets within the whole composite structure.…”

Free-standing hybrid films based on graphene and porous carbon particles for flexible supercapacitors

“…17 Davies et al used a pulsed electrodeposition technique to create flexible, and uniform graphene/polypyrrole hybrid films that exhibit a high energy density of around 33 Wh kg -1 . 18 Moreover, the incorporation of certain inorganic substances, such as nanoparticles of manganese oxides, [19][20][21] iron oxide, 22 tin oxide 23 or Ni-based oxides/hydroxides [24][25][26][27] confined within the graphene films has likewise attracted widespread attention. Thus, Gao et al reported the design of solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors based on free-standing carbon nanotube/graphene and Mn 3 O 4 nanoparticles/graphene films.…”

Rational Design of Ni Nanoparticles on N‐Rich Ultrathin Carbon Nanosheets for High‐Performance Supercapacitor Materials: Embedded‐ Versus Anchored‐Type Dispersion

“…In this way, low efficiency, high cost, and poor oxide/C interfacial interaction are inevitable. [7,18] In addition, the intrinsic shortages of carbonaceous materials and metal oxides/hydroxides always result in compromised electrochemical performances: Large capacitances are acquired at the expense of poor cycle lifetimes, [19,20] or vice versa. [11,12] Recently, the introduction of electron-donating nitrogen heteroatoms to carbon materials has been proposed to achieve superior performances, [21][22][23][24] yet expensive resources and timeconsuming carbonization are often used to fabricate N-doped carbon materials.…”