Electrochemical performance study of polyaniline and polypyrrole based flexible electrodes

Abstract

The increasing demand for compact and functional electronics has led to significant rise in research interest in the development of versatile energy storage systems. With this perspective notion, herein, we fabricated electrically conducting polymer-based flexible carbon cloth (CC) electrodes and assessed their electrochemical performance. Briefly, polyaniline nanofibers (Pani-NFs) and polypyrrole nanotubes (PPy-NTs) were synthesized by interfacial polymerization and reactive self-degrade template method, respectively. The physico-chemical properties of the as-synthesized nanostructured conducting polymers were characterized with the help of X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), field emission transmission electron microscope (FETEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The electrochemical performance of the Pani-NFs and PPy-NTs coated flexible CC electrodes was evaluated in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte with a potential window of −0.2 to 0.8 V versus saturated calomel electrode (SCE). The Pani-NFs and PPy-NTs coated electrodes yielded the maximum areal capacitance of 0.79 and 0.74 F.cm−2, respectively at a constant discharge current density of 10 mA.cm−2, which was determined from the charge-discharge curve during the discharging period. The results demonstrate the potential of the nanostructured conducting polymer-based flexible electrodes for portable and wearable energy storage applications.