Enhanced specific capacitance of a novel ternary polypyrrole incorporated with prussian blue and mesoporous carbon black for high performance supercapacitor applications

Abstract

A facile ternary composite of polypyrrole (PPy), prussian blue (PB) and carbon black (CB), PPy-PB-CB is synthesized by oxidative polymerization of pyrrole and formation of PB on CB to achieve efficient electrode material for supercapacitor. The polymer composite is characterized structurally and morphologically; CV, GCD and EIS techniques are used to evaluate the capacitive behavior of the ternary composite. PPy-PB-CB electrode exhibits a specific capacitance of 163.7 F g−1 in neutral electrolyte, KCl which is superior to PPy, PPy-PB and PPy-CB electrode materials. Moreover, the ternary composite retains 98.35% of its initial capacitance even after 2000 cycles, exhibits high specific power, 10.78 kW kg−1 and high specific energy, 18.1 Wh kg−1. The excellent performance of the ternary polymer composite is attributed to the synergistic effect of high specific capacitance of pseudocapacitive electrodes, namely, PPy, and PB and better reversible nature of EDLC electrode, CB and its porosity.