Supercritical fluid processing of N-doped graphene and its application in high energy symmetric supercapacitor

A simple one-pot methodology is developed for the synthesis of nitrogen doped graphene via supercritical fluid (SCF) processing using glycine as a nitrogen precursor. The presence of various N-containing functional groups was determined by FT-IR and the amount of N-doping in the graphene was found to be 4.5 wt% using the elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrochemical capacitance measurements are performed using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The nitrogen doped graphene exhibited enhanced capacitive performance with a maximum specific capacitance of 270 F/g at 0.5 A/g current density with high specific capacitance retention of 90% over 10,000 cycles at 10 A/g current density. The fabricated symmetric supercapacitor cell showed a high energy density of 4.1 and 36 Wh/kg in aqueous and ionic liquid electrolyte, respectively. The high energy density obtained in ionic liquid is promising for their potential application in electrochemical energy system. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.