Enhancing Specific Capacitance and Cyclic Stability through Incorporation of MnO2 into Bacterial Nanocellulose/PPy·CuCl2 Flexible Electrodes

Abstract

This study reports the polymerization of polypyrrole (PPy) in bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) membranes impregnated with manganese oxide (MnO2). Prior to polymerization, nanosized MnO2 is synthesized in situ using H2SO4 and KMnO4. PPy is then polymerized in situ in the MnO2 impregnated BNC membranes via chemical oxidation using copper chloride dihydrate (CuCl2·2H2O) as the oxidizing agent using two different concentrations of pyrrole (Py): 0.04 and 0.08 mol L−1 with a 1:4 molar ratio of Py/CuCl2·2H2O. Assembled symmetric supercapacitor devices exhibit specific capacitances as high as 1073 mF cm−2 (259 F cm−3) and a capacitance retention of 99.5% after 1000 cycles, which show that the combination of BNC membranes with a conductive polymer and a metallic oxide can be promising as an electrode for energy storage devices.