Abstract: Porous CoFe₂O₄ nanoclusters with different concentrations of graphene based composites were synthesized by a simple solvothermal process. The electrochemical properties of prepared CoFe₂O₄–reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites were evaluated using polyvinylidene fluoride and Na-alginate as binder materials.

The synthesized porous CoFe₂O₄–rGO composites were characterized using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD, X'pert PRO MPD, PANalytical, Philips) with Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.54 Å at 40 kV and 30 mA). The size and shape of synthesized samples were examined using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM)-EDS (JSM-7600F, JEOL). Transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM), JEOL 2010F HRTEM, Japan, with 200 kV operating voltage was used to capture the morphology and crystallinity of porous CoFe₂O₄–rGO composite samples. The CoFe₂O₄ + 20% rGO composites with alginate binders deliver a stable maximum discharge capacity of 1040 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 C, which is nearer to the theoretical capacity (914 mA h g⁻¹) of this material. The alginate binders hold the integrity of the electrode and 20% rGO will give the electron transportation network during the conversion reaction in CoFe₂O₄ + 20% rGO composites/alginate electrodes.

Biography: Dr. Pratap Kollu is Assistant Professor at Center for Advanced Studies in Electronics Science and Technology (CASEST), School of Physics at the University of Hyderabad, India. He is also Newton Alumnus researcher to Cavendish laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK. His PhD in Materials Engineering is from Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea. He completed his MPhil and MSc in Electronics from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India. He is a gold medalist from the university during his master’s course. His post-doctoral positions are at Tyndall national institute, Ireland, Indian institute of technology (IIT) Bombay and at University of Cambridge, UK. He is awarded the Newton International fellowship jointly by the Royal Society, UK and the British Academy, UK and he is awarded the INSPIRE faculty fellowship by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. His research areas include design and fabrication of magnetic sensors, porotype development for navigation and biosensor applications. He also works on 2D material metal nanocomposites for energy, multiferroics and water purification applications. He has published in 80 international peer-reviewed journals. He is also a recipient of young scientist award during the 9th international conference on advanced materials and processing held at Northeastern University, Shenyang, China (2018). He is an invited speaker at 42 international conferences held around in India, China, Peru, New Zealand, UK and USA.