Three-Dimensional Graphene-TiO2-SnO2 Ternary Nanocomposites for High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors

Golnoush Zamiri; A S Md Abdul Haseeb; Priyanka Jagadish; Mohammad Khalid; Ing Kong; Syam G Krishnan

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c05343

Three-Dimensional Graphene-TiO₂-SnO₂ Ternary Nanocomposites for High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors

ACS Omega. 2022 Nov 23;7(48):43981-43991. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05343. eCollection 2022 Dec 6.

Authors

Golnoush Zamiri^{1

2}, A S Md Abdul Haseeb^{1

2}, Priyanka Jagadish³, Mohammad Khalid³, Ing Kong⁴, Syam G Krishnan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Centre of Advanced Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Graphene & Advanced 2D Materials Research Group (GAMRG), School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan University, Bandar Sunway, 47500Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁴ School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, 3552Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Sustainable Energy Materials Lab, School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, 4000Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

Ternary nanocomposites synergistically combine the material characteristics of three materials, altering the desired charge storage properties such as electrical conductivity, redox states, and surface area. Therefore, to improve the energy synergistic of SnO₂, TiO₂, and three-dimensional graphene, herein, we report a facile hydrothermal technique to synthesize a ternary nanocomposite of three-dimensional graphene-tin oxide-titanium dioxide (3DG-SnO₂-TiO₂). The synthesized ternary nanocomposite was characterized using material characterization techniques such as XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, FESEM, and EDXS. The surface area and porosity of the material were studied using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) studies. XRD studies showed the crystalline nature of the characteristic peaks of the individual materials, and FESEM studies revealed the deposition of SnO₂-TiO₂ on 3DG. The BET results show that incorporating 3DG into the SnO₂-TiO₂ binary nanocomposite increased its surface area compared to the binary composite. A three-electrode system compared the electrochemical performances of both the binary and ternary composites as a battery-type supercapacitor electrode in different molar KOH (1, 3, and 6 M) electrolytes. It was determined that the ternary nanocomposite electrode in 6 M KOH delivered a maximum specific capacitance of 232.7 C g^-1 at 1 A g^-1. An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was fabricated based on 3DG-SnO₂-TiO₂ as a positive electrode and commercial activated carbon as a negative electrode (3DG-SnO₂-TiO₂//AC). The ASC delivered a maximum energy density of 28.6 Wh kg^-1 at a power density of 367.7 W kg^-1. Furthermore, the device delivered a superior cycling stability of ∼97% after 5000 cycles, showing its prospects as a commercial ASC electrode.