Reduced graphene oxide loaded with sodium anthraquinone-2-sulfonate on functionalized carbon cloth for excellent electrochemical performance

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) loaded with sodium anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS) was prepared using one-pot hydrothermal synthesis. The phase, composition and structure of the prepared materials were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The AQS, RGO and AQS/RGO on functionalized carbon cloth (FCC) electrodes were established. The performance of AQS/FCC, RGO/FCC and AQS/RGO/FCC were tested by galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The specific capacitance (C_s) of AQS/FCC, RGO/FCC and AQS/RGO/FCC is 9.29, 194.8 and 402.5 F g⁻¹ at the current density (C_d) of 0.5 A g⁻¹, respectively. After 1000 cycles of charging and discharging, the capacity retention of AQS/RGO/FCC remained at 92.6%. Therefore, the AQS/RGO/FCC electrode exhibits excellent rate performance, excellent charging and discharging performance and cycling stability in supercapacitors (SCs).