Phoretic Deposition of Graphene on Manganese-Cobalt Oxide Composites for Supercapacitor Electrodes

Great focus has been directed towards double-layer capacitance and Faradic, redox reactions because of their long device lifetimes and their high power densities, respectively. Our novel approach to combining these mechanisms in a tri-layered composite electrode promises to increase the energy densities of the device, without sacrificing the supercapacitance and the high power densities attributed with it. Initial analysis of the interfacial interactions of graphene oxide (GO) and manganese oxide (MnO2) were promising. This paper aims to further demonstrate the tri-layered composite by forming a layer of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on MnO2 nanowires and cobalt oxide nanorods. We have successfully created the first of a kind supercapacitor electrode material as a scalable device. In this paper, in addition to analysis of the composite electrode, we present modifications to the traditional electrophoretic deposition process and optimizations to the thermal reduction of GO in order to create rGO surfaces on substrates that are normally difficult to adhere it to.