One-pot synthesis of P-toluidine-reduced graphene oxide/Mn3O4 composite and its electrochemical performance.

In this paper, a promising electrode material for supercapacitor based on P-toluidine-reduced graphene oxide/Mn₃O₄ (GM) composite was successfully synthesized through a new one-pot synthesis route. To obtain GM composite, graphite oxide (GO) was reduced by P-toluidine first, and then, the resulting reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was hydrothermally treated accompanied with KMnO₄ and K₂SO₄. The effect of K₂SO₄ on the microstructure and electrochemical performance of as-synthesized composites was investigated. At the weight feed ratio of the theoretical amount of Mn₃O₄ to GO is 13:1, the GM composite prepared with K₂SO₄ displays a network structure, but under the same conditions, GM composite prepared without K₂SO₄ presents a different-sized lumps structure closely piled up by Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles. A specific capacitance of the GM composite prepared with K₂SO₄ reaches to 331.6 F/g, almost two times higher than that of the composite prepared without K₂SO₄. Moreover, the specific capacitance retention of the composite is above 88% after 1000 cycles at 5.0 A/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]