Utilization of Engineered Iron Oxide and Industry Waste Red Mud in High Performance Supercapacitor

Development of high performance energy storage materials is still an important topic to the researchers as there is a rapid depletion of non-renewable energy resources and a continuous demand for electrical power sources. In this work, at first, by utilizing electrochemical technique, supercapacitor behavior of a novel hybrid nanocomposite encompassed of engineered iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was investigated. The synergistic effect between the Fe 3 O 4 and RGO components accomplished a high sp. capacitance (576 F g −1 ) a high energy storage density ( 75 W h kg −1 at a current density of 6 A g −1 ) and a promising long term stability [1]. The engineered coating not only enhances the pseudo-capacitive charge transfer process but also felicitates enhanced surface area which boosts double layer capacitance. Motivated by the above results, the potential use of red mud (an aluminum industrial waste material) as supercapacitor electrode was further explored. Red mud, a natural source of iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ) was mechanically processed. The nanoparticle exhibits a promising energy density, a moderate specific capacitance and a remarkable cyclic stability, where ~ 98% of the initial capacitance was retained even after 5000 cycles for a high sp. current density (6 A g -1 ) (Fig. 1). This study shows that waste red mud can effectively be utilized in energy harvesting. References [1] Gourav Bhattacharya et al. RSC Advances 7.1 (2017): 327-335. Figure 1