Facile synthesis of reduced graphene oxide-modified, nitrogen-doped carbon xerogel with enhanced electrochemical capacitance

•Nitrogen-doping and graphene-attachment in the carbon material are simultaneously achieved.•A thin layer of graphene attached on the wall of the mesoporous carbon material speeds up the charge transfer.•The graphene-modified nitrogen-doped carbon xerogel shows great potential for supercapacitor application.

In this contribution, we report a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-modified nitrogen-doped carbon xerogel, which could be easily prepared by pyrolysis of melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resins that are polymerized hydrothermally in an aqueous GO dispersion. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption method were employed to reveal the morphologies and structures of the prepared carbon xerogel. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge–discharge were used to investigate the electrochemical properties. The results showed that the charge transfer barrier of the mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon xerogel was decreased evidently, owing to the modification of a layer of rGO on its wall, and the xerogel demonstrated a capacitance of as high as 205 F g−1 at the current of 1 A g−1.

Graphical abstractA facile synthesis of rGO-modified, N-doped carbon material for supercapacitor application.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide