Abstract
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•Modification of the Hummers method to produce graphene.•Reducing graphene with microwave heating.•Supercapacitor electrode prepared from microwave reduced graphite oxide (MrGO) material.
Hydrogen peroxide was used as oxidizing agent in the preparation of graphite oxide to improve the Hummers method. The aim is to support and increase the reactivity without affecting the yield product. The graphite oxide was exposed to microwave to get a microwave reduced graphite oxide (MrGO) usually contains some functional groups containing oxygen. Both cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge tests were carried out to investigate the electrochemical properties. Results show a maximum specific capacitance of 302F/g at scan rate of 1mV/s and exhibit excellent cycling retention 120.8% after 1000 cycles at 200mV/s by using aqueous electrolyte (1M H2SO4) at room temperature. In addition, the energy density could reach 25.94Wh/kg and power density 1.734kW/kg at a current density of 3A/g. The supercapacitor electrode prepared from MrGO material shows a pseudocapactive performance attributed to the redox reactions between the protons form the acidic electrolyte and the remaining oxygen-functional groups.