High Charge Density Conducting Polymer/Graphite Fiber Composite Electrodes for Battery Applications

Abstract

Novel composite electrode structures have been fabricated by single‐step electropolymerization of polypyrrole onto a porous graphite fiber matrix. The graphite substrate provides a lightweight structure with high surface area. The available charge capacity of the composite electrodes was proportional to the electropolymerization time and the mass of electroactive polymer with reversible charge capacities in excess of and a specific capacity of , independent of polymer mass. The rate of charge extraction was dependent on the polymer mass and the morphology of the polymer electrode. In test cells using a polypyrrole/graphite fiber anode and a polypyrrole‐polystyrene sulfonate/graphite fiber cathode, we have demonstrated a capacity of more than based on the active mass of the undoped polymer on discharging the cell to 0.1 V over a 10 kΩ load. More than 70% of the available charge was extracted from the cell over 50 cycles with no degradation of cell performance.