Synthesis and Characterization of Chitosan Functionalized Graphene-Oxide Based Binary Metal Composite for Energy Storage Application

Chitosan functionalized graphene oxide (GO) based binary metal composites were synthesized via the hydrothermal approach for energy storage applications. The composite material demonstrated a notable increase in surface area by successful cross-linking between the amine groups present in chitosan and the carboxylic groups in GO, and a significant dispersion of metal nanoparticles on the surface of GO was observed in the presence of chitosan. Interestingly, in the FTIR spectra, two dominating peaks appeared at 1388 cm−1 and 1161 cm−1 which attributed to the absorption peak of the glycosidic bond, and stretching vibrations of C─O bending respectively. The structural analysis was confirmed by XRD whereas, the broadened peak at 26° indicated the (002) plane of reduced graphene which is similar peak of typical graphite. The presence of metal nanoparticles and chitosan generates the higher separation of two graphitic planes. Moreover, the indexed (111), (220), (311), (400), (422), (511), (440), and (533) planes indicate the spinel structure of NiCo2O4. Noticeably, the electrochemical performances were carried out by analyzing potentiometric, galvanometric, and electrochemical impedance. In this study, we have observed that the potentiometric curves appeared with two distinct redox peaks which indicates the electrochemical redox reactions between metal compounds and aqueous electrolytes.