Strategy for Constructing Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Structure by Patching Reduced Graphene Oxide under Low Temperature and Its Application in Supercapacitors

There are many holes and oxygen groups in reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which influences its conductivity, packing density, mechanical performance, thermal properties, and optical absorption. To construct relatively complete graphene from graphene oxide (GO), a strategy of patching rGO has been proposed. N-doped graphene (NG(Py-Ni)) was prepared through the hydrothermal treatment of GO, pyridine, and nickel sulfate with subsequent annealing at 300 degrees C. Pyridine can act as carbon and nitrogen sources and interact with GO to obtain N-doped pyridine-containing rGO. Pyridine that existed on rGO and/or N-doped amorphous carbon is partially graphitized with the nickel metal derived from nickel sulfate by 300 degrees C annealing, which can patch the defects of rGO to consummate the graphene structure. NG(Py-Ni) possesses a high packing density and excellent electrochemical performance. This strategy is promising for a large-scale production of low-defect N-doped graphene from GO.