Jing Wang

Graduate Research Project                                                                                                            

Preparing RGO/Mn3O4 Nanocomposite by Using Three Different Manganese Precursors Via Microwave Heating

Graphene or grapheme-based materials, within the last decade, has attracted tremendous attentions from researchers and scientist in different fields. Because of its large theoretical specific surface are, high charge-carrier mobility at room temperature, high Yong's modulus and thermal conductivity, and also optical transmittance and excellent electrical conductivity, this promising material can be engineered to benefit many fields and thus lead to a technology revolution in products related to energy field, such as lithium-ion battery, supercapacitor.

Recently, manganese-anchored grapheme material arises as practical and promising material for the next generation of supercapacitors. This composite combines the merits of manganese oxide, which are high energy density, low cost, environmentally friendly and natural abundance, and merits of grapheme, which are large surface area and high electrical conductivity, to be the candidate of supercapacitors with unique and excellent properties. Herein we employed a fast and energy saving method to synthesis the Mn3O4/RGO nanocomposit, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the crystal structure and morphology of as-synthesized sample, also Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was applied to determine the ration between grapheme and manganese oxide.

• University of Missouri - Columbia, Department of Chemical Engineering, 01/2013 - 05/2014
• This is Li's master thesis project. Li Wei was a graduate student in Dr. Sheila Baker's group, and has graduated with Master's Degree in May 2014.
• I helped Li with the XRD and TEM characterizations of the graphene nanocomposite.
• A preview of Li's MS Thesis is attached. Full thesis could be provided upon request.
• Manuscript of "Preparing RGO/Mn3O4 nanocomposite by using three different manganese precursors via Microwave Heating" is finished and ready to submit.

• Advisor: Dr. Sheila Baker