Solvothermal synthesis of Al2Se3/rGO nanocomposites with excellent electrochemical performance in supercapacitor

As a supercapacitor material, transition metal selenide (TMS) can be synthesised in a cost-effective and simple manner. However, it suffers from low-rate capacities and poor cyclic stability due to their easy aggregation and structural instability during charge and discharge cycles. Herein, we report the synthesis of aluminum selenide (Al2Se3) nanorods over reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets as a novel material using the solvothermal method. The successful formation of Al2Se3/rGO nanocomposite was confirmed via XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), and XPS (X-ray photoelectric spectroscopy) and was also investigated for its optical characteristics and electrochemical performance. The optimised Al2Se3/rGO sample with 5 wt% and 10 wt% rGO exhibited high specific capacitances of 701.83 Fg−1 and 1138.1 Fg−1, respectively. Moreover, Al2Se3/10%rGO nanocomposite as a positive electrode achieves energy densities of 39.57 Wh/kg and power densities of 0.006 kW/kg at current densities 2.5 A/g along with stability up to 2000 cycles, suggesting it to be a significant technological candidate in the future. This work highlights an effective and feasible approach to engineer or construct TMS/rGO nanocomposites for charge storage applications.