Reduced graphene oxide/Mn₃O₄ nanocomposite electrodes with enhanced electrochemical performance for energy storage applications

Reduced graphene oxide/Mn₃O₄ (RGO/Mn₃O₄) nanocomposites were synthesized via a cost-effective approach, and their microstructural and morphological features were investigated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results revealed that the Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles were crystallized with particle size 50–100 nm while the size of the Mn₃O₄ particles in RGO/Mn₃O₄ composites decreased to 30–50 nm, suggesting that RGO promoted the dispersion of Mn₃O₄ particles. We tested the electrochemical behavior of the RGO/Mn₃O₄ composites for supercapacitor and Li-ion battery. And it was found that they exhibited an excellent discharge specific capacitance of about 194.8 F/g at 1.0 A/g with 90% capacity retention even after 1000 cycles in supercapacitor, and an initial discharge capacity of about 1813 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g with outstanding cycling stability in Li-ion battery.