Synthesis of a NiMoO₄/3D-rGO Nanocomposite via Starch Medium Precipitation Method for Supercapacitor Performance

• Main Authors: Shahrzad Arshadi Rastabi, Rasoul Sarraf Mamoory, Nicklas Blomquist, Manisha Phadatare, Håkan Olin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
• Series: Batteries
• Subjects: electrochemical performance; starch; porous structure; nimoo₄/3d-rgo nanocomposite; nimoo₄ nps
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2313-0105/6/1/5

This paper presents research on the synergistic effects of nickel molybdate and reduced graphene oxide as a nanocomposite for further development of energy storage systems. An enhancement in the electrochemical performance of supercapacitor electrodes occurs by synthesizing highly porous structures and achieving more surface area. In this work, a chemical precipitation technique was used to synthesize the NiMoO₄/3D-rGO nanocomposite in a starch media. Starch was used to develop the porosities of the nanostructure. A temperature of 350 °C was applied to transform graphene oxide sheets to reduced graphene oxide and remove the starch to obtain the NiMoO₄/3D-rGO nanocomposite with porous structure. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the NiMoO₄ nano particles indicated a monoclinic structure. Also, the scanning electron microscope observation showed that the NiMoO₄ NPs were dispersed across the rGO sheets. The electrochemical results of the NiMoO₄/3D-rGO electrode revealed that the incorporation of rGO sheets with NiMoO₄ NPs increased the capacity of the nanocomposite. Therefore, a significant increase in the specific capacity of the electrode was observed with the NiMoO₄/3D-rGO nanocomposite (450 Cg^−1 or 900 Fg^−1) when compared with bare NiMoO₄ nanoparticles (350 Cg^−1 or 700 Fg^−1) at the current density of 1 A g^−1. Our findings show that the incorporation of rGO and NiMoO₄ NP redox reactions with a porous structure can benefit the future development of supercapacitors.