Synthesis and Characterisation of Reduced Graphene Oxide/Bismuth Composite for Electrodes in Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices

• Published in: ChemSusChem 2017-01, Vol.10 (2), p.363-371
• Main Authors: Wang, Jiabin, Zhang, Han, Hunt, Michael R. C., Charles, Alasdair, Tang, Jie, Bretcanu, Oana, Walker, David, Hassan, Khalil T., Sun, Yige, Šiller, Lidija
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bismuth; Bismuth - chemistry; Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; composite materials; Current density; Devices; Electric Conductivity; Electric Power Supplies; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; energy storage; Graphene; Graphite - chemistry; Kinetics; Nanoparticles - chemistry; nanotechnology; Oxides; Oxides - chemistry; Polyols; Reaction time; reduced graphene oxide; Synthesis (chemistry); Temperature
• ISSN: 1864-5631; 1864-564X
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201601553

A reduced graphene oxide/bismuth (rGO/Bi) composite was synthesized for the first time using a polyol process at a low reaction temperature and with a short reaction time (60 °C and 3 hours, respectively). The as‐prepared sample is structured with 20–50 nm diameter bismuth particles distributed on the rGO sheets. The rGO/Bi composite displays a combination of capacitive and battery‐like charge storage, achieving a specific capacity value of 773 C g−1 at a current density of 0.2 A g−1 when charged to 1 V. The material not only has good power density but also shows moderate stability in cycling tests with current densities as high as 5 A g−1. The relatively high abundance and low price of bismuth make this rGO/Bi material a promising candidate for use in electrode materials in future energy storage devices. Supercapattery composite! A reduced graphene oxide/bismuth (rGO/Bi) composite is synthesized for the first time using a low temperature (60 °C) polyol process with a short reaction time (3 hours). The rGO/Bi material has high specific capacity. The composite also exhibits moderate stability in cycling tests even at current densities as high as 5 A g−1.