A porous Cu (P-Cu) mesh was used as a current collector and its morphological effect on the supercapacitor performance was investigated. A porous surface was obtained by thermally annealing the Cu mesh using ammonia gas. Hierarchically porous activated graphene (AG) with a high specific surface area (SSA) was deposited on the P-Cu mesh using electrophoretic deposition, aided by graphene oxide (GO). GO was thermally converted to electrically conductive reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The AG/rGO that was deposited on the P-Cu mesh achieved a high specific capacitance of up to 140.0 F/g and a high energy density of up to 3.11 Wh/kg at a current density of 2 A/g in 6 m KOH aqueous electrolyte. The high SSA of AG and the porous surface morphology of the Cu mesh allowed efficient electric double-layer formation and charge transport. This work offers an alternative to improve supercapacitors by combining a porous metallic current collector with porous AG.
Keywords: activated graphene; ammonia; copper mesh; supercapacitor.