High performance asymmetric supercapacitor based on molybdenum disulphide/graphene foam and activated carbon from expanded graphite

Tshifhiwa M Masikhwa; Moshawe J Madito; Abdulhakeem Bello; Julien K Dangbegnon; Ncholu Manyala

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2016.10.095

High performance asymmetric supercapacitor based on molybdenum disulphide/graphene foam and activated carbon from expanded graphite

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Feb 15:488:155-165. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2016.10.095. Epub 2016 Nov 2.

Authors

Tshifhiwa M Masikhwa¹, Moshawe J Madito¹, Abdulhakeem Bello¹, Julien K Dangbegnon¹, Ncholu Manyala²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Institute of Applied Materials, SARCHI Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.
² Department of Physics, Institute of Applied Materials, SARCHI Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa. Electronic address: ncholu.manyala@up.ac.za.

PMID: 27825060
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2016.10.095

Abstract

Molybdenum disulphide which has a graphene-like single layer structure has excellent mechanical and electrical properties and unique morphology, which might be used with graphene foam as composite in supercapacitor applications. In this work, Molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂)/graphene foam (GF) composites with different graphene foam loading were synthesized by the hydrothermal process to improve on specific capacitance of the composites. Asymmetric supercapacitor device was fabricated using the best performing MoS₂/GF composite and activated carbon derived from expanded graphite (AEG) as positive and negative electrodes, respectively, in 6M KOH electrolyte. The asymmetric MoS₂/GF//AEG device exhibited a maximum specific capacitance of 59Fg^-1 at a current density of 1Ag^-1 with maximum energy and power densities of 16Whkg^-1 and 758Wkg^-1, respectively. The supercapacitor also exhibited a good cyclic stability with 95% capacitance retention over 2000 constant charge-discharge cycles. The results obtained demonstrate the potential of MoS₂/GF//AEG as a promising material for electrochemical energy storage application.

Keywords: Activated carbon from expanded graphite; Asymmetric supercapacitor; Graphene foam; MoS(2).