Electrochemical Studies of Novel Clay-Conducting Poly-o-Toluidine Hybrid Nanocomposites for Supercapacitor Application

Abstract

Nanostructured composite of poly-o-toluidine (POT) with novel clay mineral identified from Tuticorin in Tamilnadu, India, known as Indian clay (IC), were synthesized by simple, inexpensive chemical oxidative polymerization. The structural, thermal, and morphological characterization of the composites showed formation of nano scale, thermally stable composites with intercalated semi crystalline nature having features of both POT and IC. Thermal stability was found to be more for the composite with 0.5g of clay loading. Cyclic voltammograms for the nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode showed well defined redox couple at 322.7 and 3.8mV indicating not only the conducting nature but also the good electrochemical stability of the material. The value of specific capacitance of 280Fg-1 at a scan rate of 50mV/s proves the high capacitative nature of the nanocomposite. EIS gave the Rct and Cdl values as 240.1ohm and 23μFcm-2 respectively making it a promising supercapacitor electrode material.