Abstract
In this article, three-dimensional (3D) microstuctured poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) composite electrodes with varying amount of PEDOT loadings were successfully prepared by electrochemical deposition method. The composites were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cyclic voltammetry. Raman spectra suggest that there is a strong interaction between the RVC and backbone of PEDOT chain. It is revealed from the SEM images that the PEDOT amount, thickness, surface roughness, porosity, and globular structure on RVC electrode are increased with the increase in polymerization time. The capacitance of PEDOT/RVC electrode has increased by a factor of 2230 compared to a bare RVC electrode when polymerization is carried out for 120 min. Moreover, the capacitance of PEDOT was found to be very high compared with other PEDOT studies. The electrodes also show good cyclic stability. This substantial increase in capacitance of RVC electrode is due to the rough, highly porous, and honeycomb-like fine structure of PEDOT coating, which shows a flower-like morphology, consisting of numerous thin flakes with numbers of macropores and micropores. This interesting morphology has enhanced the performance of PEDOT because of increased electrode surface area, specific capacitance, and macroporous structure of RVC electrode.
Highlights
Nowadays, many researchers have focused on the development of novel carbon materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]such as activated carbon, carbon aerogel, carbon nanotubes, graphene, ordered mesoporous carbon, and their composites to make electrodes with high specific surface area, high conductivity, reasonable microstructured pores, and high electrosorption capacity
The morphology of the PEDOT on reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrode is affected by polymerization time
The PEDOT amount, thickness, surface roughness, porosity, and globular structure on RVC electrode are increased with the increase in polymerization time
Summary
Many researchers have focused on the development of novel carbon materials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] Such as activated carbon, carbon aerogel, carbon nanotubes, graphene, ordered mesoporous carbon, and their composites to make electrodes with high specific surface area, high conductivity, reasonable microstructured pores, and high electrosorption capacity. A novel PEDOT material can be used as a three-dimensional porous electrode with well-interconnected macropores, and numerous mesopores and micropores embedded in the reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) walls because this improves ion diffusion by providing a decreased ion diffusion distance [15]. It has been demonstrated that 3D porous carbon with an interconnected pore system shows an excellent performance in the field of electrochemistry [20,21,22,23,24,25]
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