Mechanochemical enhancement in electrode materials via silver-embedded reduced graphene oxide and cobalt oxide nanostructure for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

This study delves into the intricate domain of mechanochemical synthesis, employing a developed approach for the fabrication of electrode materials. The method involves the incorporation of silver nanoparticles into a two-dimensional matrix of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) combined with cobalt oxide nanostructures, yielding a zero-dimensional cobalt oxide@RGO.Ag nanocomposite. A comprehensive suite of material characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, XPS, and BET, was used to investigate the synthesized materials. Concurrently, extensive electrochemical investigations, incorporating cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanic charge–discharge (GCD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and retention analyses, are applied to the constructed electrochemical cell. The resulting RGO.Ag@Co3O4 nanocomposite exhibits a remarkable specific capacitance of 371.2 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1. In addition, energy density (Ed) and power density (Pd) values of 21.6 Wh/kg and 997 W/kg, respectively, are achieved at a current density (Cd) of 0.5 A g−1.