Graphene and related materials (graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide) as a subclass of carbon materials and their composites have been examined in various functions as materials in supercapacitor electrodes. They have been suggested as active masses for electrodes in electrochemical double-layer capacitors, tested as conducting additives for redox-active materials showing only poor electronic conductivity, and their use as a coating of active materials for corrosion and dissolution protection has been suggested. They have also been examined as a corrosion-protection coating of metallic current collectors; paper-like materials prepared from them have been proposed as mechanical support and as a current collector of supercapacitor electrodes. This entry provides an overview with representative examples. It outlines advantages, challenges, and future directions.
Following the enthusiastic reports about the properties of graphene and later of graphene-related materials like graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and further materials like crumpled graphene
[1[1][2][3][4],
2,3,4], suggestions of their use in electrochemistry—wherein carbon in its numerous forms has been a popular material for electrodes or as components of electrode materials has been around for decades—and in particular in devices for electrochemical energy conversion and storage (EES)
[5,6][5][6] followed. These suggestions later included their use in supercapacitors
[5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18][5][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. As an electrode material in the latter application (as well as in battery applications), materials should meet some general requirements:
Further development beyond the pristine materials mentioned above has resulted in 3D materials like graphene foam or monoliths
[3,23][3][23] and porous graphene films prepared with a sacrificial template
[24,25][24][25]. Nanocarbon materials (or carbon nanostructures) for application in energy conversion and storage including the ones addressed in this entry have been reviewed
[26,27,28][26][27][28] for applications in flexible storage devices
[29]; for further graphene nanomaterials, see
[30]. For other nanostructured materials in energy-related applications, see
[31].
Combining graphene and its relatives with other redox-active materials may result in composites having advantageous properties of both constituents, possibly without some of their flaws. These materials and their use in supercapacitors are the focus of this entry. Graphene and its relatives and their use in supercapacitors has been studied extensively and has been reviewed broadly; the respective literature is introduced in the respective sections. Use of these materials beyond supercapacitors is beyond this entry.