Electrochemical properties of nitrogen and oxygen doped reduced graphene oxide

Carbon nanostructures are promising electrode materials for energy storage devices because of their unique physical and chemical properties. Modification of the surface improves the electrochemical properties of those materials because of the changes in morphology, diffusion properties, and inclusion of additional contributions to redox processes. Oxygen-containing functional groups and nitrogen doped into the carbon matrix significantly contribute to the electrochemical behavior of reduced graphite oxide (RGO). In this work, RGO was synthesized during hydrothermal treatment of graphite oxide with a hydrazine sulfate aqueous solution. Different amounts of hydrazine sulfate were used to synthesize RGO with different nitrogen contents in the structure, and the same synthesis conditions made it possible to obtain a material with a similar composition of oxygen-containing functional groups. The materials with different nitrogen concentrations and similar amounts of oxygen were compared as electrode materials for a supercapacitor and as a negative electrode material for a Li-ion battery. It was shown that the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups has the greatest influence on the behavior and efficiency of supercapacitor electrode materials, while nitrogen atoms embedded in the graphene lattice play the largest role in lithium intercalation.