One step synthesis and capacitive performance of graphene nanosheets/Mn3O4 composite

By using KMnO4 as both the oxidant and Mn source in a modified Hummers’ method, a facile and economical procedure is proposed to synthesize graphene oxide/MnO2 composite. Then after annealing at 400 °C, the graphene/Mn3O4 composite with 70.7 wt.% Mn3O4 nanoparticles homogeneously anchored on each side of graphene nanosheets is obtained. The electrochemical performance of the graphene/Mn3O4 is investigated as a supercapacitor electrode material. It exhibits the high specific capacitance of 271.5 F g−1 at the current density of 0.1 A g−1 as well as great cycle performance. At the high current density of 10 A g−1, the capacitance retention even keeps about 100% after 20,000 cycles. The good electrochemical performance and the simple accessibility make this graphene/Mn3O4 composite a promising candidate as a supercapacitor electrode material.

► Graphene oxide/manganese oxide composite is synthesized via a one-step strategy. ► KMnO4 is utilized as both the oxidant and Mn sources for the composite. ► Graphene/Mn3O4 exhibits high capacitance of 271.5 F g−1and great cycle stability.