CuO/nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (CuO/N-RGO) composites are prepared by refluxing in ammonia solution and low temperature annealing. The as-prepared samples have been characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The loading of CuO has been measured by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Results reveal that the CuO nanoparticles with similar to 5 nm in diameter are anchored homogeneously on the nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-RGO) nanosheets. Their electrochemical performances for supercapacitors are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The CuO/N-RGO composite with 15.1 wt% CuO loading shows a high specific capacitance of 340 F g(-1) at a charge/discharge current density of 0.5 A g(-1) in 6 mol dm(-3) KOH electrolyte, and with a wide potential window of 1.4 V. Importantly, 58% of capacitance is retained when the charge/discharge current density increases from 0.5 A g(-1) to 5 A g(-1). The capacitance retention can reach to 80% after 500 charge/discharge cycles. These findings demonstrate that the CuO/N-RGO material is a promising candidate for supercapacitor applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.