Facile synthesis of functionalized graphene hydrogel for high performance supercapacitor with high volumetric capacitance and ultralong cycling stability

Abstract Graphene gels have attracted intense research due to their excellent gravimetric performances in supercapacitors. However, their low volumetric capacitance and cycling stability limit their practical application. In this work, three-dimensional (3D) reduced graphene aerogel (RGAs) with hierarchical porous and high electrical conductivity were synthesized via simple low temperature chemical reduction method using graphene oxide as precursor and L-cysteine as reducing and functional agent. The sample RGAs-8 that prepared after reduction for 8 h displayed the highest mass density, higher electrical conductivity and cross-linked porous structure. Electrochemical measurements showed that the gravimetric capacitance and the volumetric capacitance of RGAs-8 reached as high as 203.9 F g−1 and 293.6 F cm−3 at 0.5 A g−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte, respectively. In particular, the capacitance of RGAs-8 showed no capacitance loss even after 300,000 charge/discharge cycles, clearly demonstrating a robust long-term stability.