A general strategy for the fabrication of high performance microsupercapacitors

Abstract

We propose a generic strategy for microsupercapacitor fabrication that integrates layers of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and pseudocapacitive materials to create electrode heterostructures with significantly improved cycling stability and performance. Our approach involves a combination of photolithography and a simple transfer method of free-standing reduced graphene oxide film onto an Au/patterned photoresist bilayer. The resulting stack (rGO/Au/patterned resist/substrate) is then used for the electrochemical deposition of various pseudocapacitive materials before the final step of lift-off. To prove the viability of this method, we have successfully fabricated microsupercapacitors (MSCs) with the following interdigitated electrode heterostructures: MnO2/rGO, Co(OH)2/rGO and PANI/rGO. These MSCs show better performance and cycling stability compared to the single layer, (i.e., rGO-free) counterparts. The interdigitated electrode heterostructures result in MSCs with energy densities in the range of 3–12 mW h/cm3 and power densities in the range of 400–1200 mW/cm3, which is superior to the Li thin film batteries (E=10 mW h/cm3), carbon, and metal oxide based MSCs (E=1–6 mW h/cm3) while device energy densities are in the range of 1.3–5.3 mW h/cm3, corresponding power densities are in the range of 178–533 mW/cm3. These results can be explained by a facilitated nucleation model, where surface topology of the rGO film creates a favorable environment for the nucleation and growth of pseudocapacitive materials with strong interfacial contacts and enhanced surface area. This approach opens up a new avenue in fabricating MSCs involving a variety of heterostructures combining electrical double layer carbon type with Faradaic pseudocapacitive materials for enhanced electrochemical performance.