Hydrothermally synthesized reduced graphene Oxide-Copper sulfide nanomaterial for application as supercapacitor

Abstract

This work is dedicated to the synthesis of rGO-CuS (reduced graphene oxide-copper sulfide) nanocomposites through a low-cost and environmentally friendly method through a one-step hydrothermal low-temperature process without the use of surfactants. rGO was obtained by efficient reduction of GO with PEI (polyethylenimine), identified by XRD, and confirmed by FTIR, Raman, and XPS analyses. The XRD pattern shows the formation of CuS phase crystallized in a hexagonal structure, while the SEM image shows the growth of CuS nanocrystals on the rGO layer. TEM showed the formation of spherical CuS nanoparticles distributed on the rGO surface. When studying its electrochemical reaction, the synthesized nanocomposite exhibited pseudocapacitive behavior with a specific capacitance of 418 F g –1 .