Title: The study of reduced graphene oxide/activated char from rubber seed shell composites and the capacitive behaviour of its electrodes

Authors: Md Disa Nurhafizah; Idris Sabar

Addresses: Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology Laboratory, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia ' Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology Laboratory, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: This study aimed to produce activated carbon (AC) from rubber seed shell (RSS) via pyrolysis process and to fabricate it as electrode materials in supercapacitor. Moreover, the use of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as an additive was believed to give a big impact as this material is known to have superb properties. Therefore, the effect of adding rGO containing rubber seed shell activated carbon (RSSAC) as a host conductive material was further confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), micro-Raman, and tunnelling electron microscopy (TEM). The assembled electrodes were examined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) in order to investigate the capacitive behaviour of the samples. It reveals that the capacitive performance was immediately increased by adding rGO solutions (Cs = 8 F/cm²) which is believed to be due to the several wrinkles, sheets and multilayers that contribute a better platform for ion transportation. In conclusion, the used of AC produced from biomass waste in the fabrication of supercapacitor and assisted by rapid synthesised rGO has a potential to produce an energy storage device with good capacitance performance.

Keywords: reduced graphene oxide; activated carbon; capacitance; morphology; rubber seed shell; biomass waste; activated carbon; pyrolysis process; reduced graphene oxide; capacitance; morphology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2020.112380

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2020 Vol.17 No.11/12, pp.768 - 778

Published online: 13 Jan 2021 *

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