Synthesis and characterization of reduced graphene oxide decorated with CeO-doped MnO nanorods for supercapacitor applications.

A novel and efficient CeO-doped MnO nanorods decorated reduced graphene oxide (CeO-MnO/RGO) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via hydrothermal method. The growth of the CeO doped MnO nanorods over GO sheets and reduction of GO were simultaneously carried out under hydrothermal treatment. The morphology and structure of as-synthesized nanocomposite were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy, which revealed the formation of CeO-MnO decorated RGO nanocomposites. The electrochemical performance of as-prepared CeO-MnO/RGO nanocomposites as an active electrode material for supercapacitor was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods in 2M alkaline medium. The obtained results revealed that as-synthesized CeO-MnO/RGO nanocomposite exhibited higher specific capacitance (648F/g) as compared to other formulations (MnO/RGO nanocomposites: 315.13 F/g and MnO nanorods: 228.5 F/g) at the scan rate of 5mV/s. After 1000 cycles, it retained ∼90.4%, exhibiting a good stability. The high surface area, enhanced electrical conductivity, and good stability possess by the nanocomposite make this material a promising candidate to be applied as a supercapacitor electrode.