A Facile Microwave Hydrothermal Synthesis of ZnFe 2 O 4 /rGO Nanocomposites for Supercapacitor Electrodes.

As a typical binary transition metal oxide, ZnFe 2 O 4 has attracted considerable attention for supercapacitor electrodes due to its high theoretical specific capacitance. However, the reported synthesis processes of ZnFe 2 O 4 are complicated and ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles are easily agglomerated, leading to poor cycle life and unfavorable capacity. Herein, a facile microwave hydrothermal process was used to prepare ZnFe 2 O 4 /reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites in this work. The influence of rGO content on the morphology, structure, and electrochemical performance of ZnFe 2 O 4 /rGO nanocomposites was systematically investigated. Due to the uniform distribution of ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles on the rGO surface and the high specific surface area and rich pore structures, the as-prepared ZnFe 2 O 4 /rGO electrode with 44.3 wt.% rGO content exhibits a high specific capacitance of 628 F g -1 and long cycle life of 89% retention over 2500 cycles at 1 A g -1 . This work provides a new process for synthesizing binary transition metal oxide and developing a new strategy for realizing high-performance composites for supercapacitor electrodes.