One-pot microwave-assisted synthesis of porous reduced graphene oxide as an electrode material for high capacitance supercapacitor

Abstract In this study, we demonstrate for the first time, a novel and facile one-pot microwave-assisted synthesis of prGO at shorter time period and lower temperature employing hydrochloric acid as an etching agent. Modified porous reduced graphene oxide (prGO) not only avoids the restacking of prGO layers, but also the existence of pores promotes improvement of material transport efficiency. Herein, physical and chemical characterization confirms the presence of macro/mesopores in the obtained prGO without any restacking issue, unlike reported rGO studies. The synergistic effect of the interconnected macro/mesopores provides facile ion transport pathways with the favorable electrolyte contact when compared to the reported rGO studies. In addition, the presence of macropores can shorten the transfer path distance of electrons/ions to the electroactive sites thereby enhancing specific capacitance. As a result, the synthesized prGO shows excellent specific capacitance of 568.5 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 with a remarkable capacity retention after longer charge/discharge cycles. The proposed synthesis approach can be employed to develop prGO based electrode material for various supercapacitor devices.