Comparison of copper compounds on copper foil as current collector for fabrication of graphene/polypyrrole electrode

Abstract

Abstract Finding new materials for supercapacitors with the aim of improving their energy density and performance has been recently considered. Herein, a novel current collector material for graphene/polypyrrole electrodes using different copper compounds is introduced. In this study, nanowire-like Cu(OH)2 arrays, urchin-like microsphere CuO, and leaf-shaped hydrophobic STA-CuO were directly synthesized by a simple and cost-effective liquid–solid reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used for the analysis of prepared samples. XRD and FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of CuO, Cu(OH)2 and STA-CuO on the copper foil. FESEM results showed the formation of copper compounds with different morphologies. The specific capacitance achieved for Cu(OH)2, CuO, STA-CuO electrode were 200, 55, 30 Fg−1 at the scan rate of 10 mVs−1. In the next step, the graphene, polypyrrole and graphene/polypyrrole composite were deposited on Cu(OH)2/Cu-foil as a supercapacitor electrodes. XRD and FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of polypyrrole on graphene sheets. The best specific capacitance was achieved for graphene/polypyrrole/Cu(OH)2 equal to 311 Fg−1 at a scan rate of 10 mVs−1. Therefore, the graphene/polypyrrole/Cu(OH)2 electrode showed the best supercapacitive performance.