Green synthesis of graphene nanosheets/ZnO composites and electrochemical properties

A green and facile approach was demonstrated to prepare graphene nanosheets/ZnO (GNS/ZnO) composites for supercapacitor materials. Glucose, as a reducing agent, and exfoliated graphite oxide (GO), as precursor, were used to synthesize GNS, then ZnO directly grew onto conducting graphene nanosheets as electrode materials. The small ZnO particles successfully anchored onto graphene sheets as spacers to keep the neighboring sheets separate. The electrochemical performances of these electrodes were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectrometry and chronopotentiometry. Results showed that the GNS/ZnO composites displayed superior capacitive performance with large capacitance (62.2 F/g), excellent cyclic performance, and maximum power density (8.1 kW/kg) as compared with pure graphene electrodes. Our investigation highlight the importance of anchoring of small ZnO particles on graphene sheets for maximum utilization of electrochemically active ZnO and graphene for energy storage application in supercapacitors.