Actuation triggered exfoliation of graphene oxide at low temperature for electrochemical capacitor applications

An actuation triggered thermal exfoliation process was realized at a low temperature of 200 °C and atmospheric pressure. Densely packed graphene oxide (GO) paper was transformed into airy-like expanded architectures. The underlying mechanism was found to be similar to corn popping and attributed to the thermally-stimulated-actuation and molecules escape. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra and electrochemical characterization showed that after the exfoliation process, the resultant popped graphene oxide (P-GO) exhibited highly expanded structures; the oxygen-containing groups were effectively removed; and the P-GO demonstrated good electrochemical capacitance performance with excellent stability.