Hydrogen-bonded quasi-layered polypyrrole-tungstate complex with exceptional electrochemical capacitance over 25000 cycles

Abstract

Miniaturised and compact energy storage systems are critical for the development of modern electronic products. Here, we report a novel conductive polypyrrole-tungstate self-assembly with quasi-layered structure (denoted tungstate anion linked polypyrrole or TALPy) and its performance for use as high-density and ultra-thick electrodes in supercapacitors. The TALPy electrodes exhibit good charge storage kinetics, excellent volumetric and areal capacitances. With an ultrahigh mass loading of 50 mg cm−2, TALPy electrode delivers a highest areal capacitance of 4.12 F cm−2 (at 1 mA cm−2), surpassing many state-of-the-art electrode materials. More importantly, TALPy electrode also shows a remarkable stability with 94% of capacitance retention after 25,000 charge/discharge cycles, which surpasses numerous polymer-based electrodes.