Ultrasimple air-annealed pure graphene oxide film for high-performance supercapacitors

Realizing both high gravimetric and volumetric specific capacitances (noted as C W and C V , respectively) is an essential prerequisite for the next-generation, high performance supercapacitors. However, the need of electronic/ionic transport for electrochemical reactions causes a “trade-off” between compacted density and capacitance of electrode, thereby impairing gravimetric or volumetric specific capacitances. Herein, we report a high-performance, film-based supercapacitor via a thermal reduction of graphene oxide (GO) in air. The reduced, layer-structured graphene film ensures high electrode density and high electron conductivity, while the hierarchical channels generated from reduction-induced gas releasing process offer sufficient ion transport pathways. Note that the resultant graphene film is employed directly as electrodes without using any additives (binders and conductive agents). As expected, the as-prepared electrodes perform particularly well in both C W (420F g −1 ) and C V (360F cm −3 ) at a current density of 0.5 A g −1 . Even at an ultrahigh current density of 50 A g −1 , C W and C V maintain in 220F g −1 and 189F cm −3 , respectively. Furthermore, the corresponding symmetric two-electrode supercapacitor achieves both high gravimetric energy density of 54 W h kg −1 and high gravimetric power density of 1080 W kg −1 , corresponding to volumetric energy density of 46 W h L -1 and volumetric power density of 917 W L -1 .