Abstract
In this study, we synthesized a reduced form of graphene oxide/copper oxide (rGO/CuO) nanocompounds produced at rGO wt. of 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1%. The crystallinity indexes for rGO and rGO/CuO increased, and that for CuO decreased as the test temperatures increases, while the crystallinity indexes of rGO, CuO and rGO/CuO decreases with test periods increment. Measurement by dynamic light scattering reported average crystallite sizes of 0.7, 8.8, 25.4, 38.5 nm for 0.125 wt.% rGO/CuO, 0.25 wt.% rGO/CuO, 0.50 wt.% rGO/CuO and 1.0 wt.% rGO/CuO respectively. The electrochemical properties of the nanocomposites were checked. The rGO/CuO XRD peaks were 18.114320 angstrom, 225.1856 angstrom, 321.41740 angstrom, and 365.98290 angstrom, with 11.051640%, 0.461075%, 0.280083%, and 0.174259% for 20 of 22.2031 degrees, 43.5865 degrees, 50.7050 degrees, and 74.3729 degrees, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy identified the existence of vibrational frequencies with pseudo-capacitance at 458 cm(-1) which confirmed the presence of rGO-CuO nanoparticles. The voltammetry of rGO-CuO indicated the increment of electrochemical activity, large capacitance, and conduction in the reduced rGO/CuO composite. For rGO wt. of 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1.0%, the rGO/CuO composite specific capacitance was 561 F/g, 582 F/g, 597 F/g, and 611 F/g, respectively, which indicated good electrochemical performance.