Hydrothermal preparation of reduced graphene oxide/tungsten trioxide nanocomposites with enhanced electrochemical performance

A series of rGO/WO3 nanocomposites have been synthesized in this study using the single-step hydrothermal approach by varying the concentration of WO3 for supercapacitor applications. Accordingly, the effect of different WO3 contents on the electrochemical performance of rGO/WO3 was extensively studied. It was noteworthy that rGO/WO3 nanocomposite with mass ratio of 1:100 showed the highest specific capacitance (i.e., 274 F g−1 at current density of 0.7 A g−1) at 150 °C with a reaction time of 20 h. By careful control of the synthesis parameters, rGO/WO3 with fibers-like structure could be obtained. Correspondingly, this structure can lower the resistance and shorten the diffusion pathway coupled with offering more reactive sites for electrolyte. A possible growth mechanism of WO3 deposited on rGO was also proposed in the presence work. Additionally, this piece of work also provided a better understanding the roles of fiber-like WO3 anchored on rGO/WO3 nanocomposites for efficient electrochemical capacitor.