Investigation on Electrochemical Properties of Polythiophene Nanocomposite with Graphite Derivatives as Supercapacitor Material on Breath Figure-Decorated PMMA Electrode

Abstract

Breath figures have been formed by the direct breath figure method on polymethyl methacrylate electrode sand hexagonal oriented holes with 0.5- to 10-μm2 surface area have been created. Deposition of materials on the electrodes has been performed by the spray-coating method. polythiophene (PTh) nanoparticles, polythiophene-graphene oxide (PTh-GO) and polythiophene-reduced graphene oxide (PTh-G) nanocomposites were synthesized by emulsion polymerization, while characterization of synthetic materials have been carried out by Fourier transform infrared, Χ-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy techniques. Also, the electrochemical properties of the designed electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. Specific capacitance of porous electrodes coated by PTh nanoparticles, PTh-GO and PTh-G nanocomposites were calculated from cyclic voltammetry curves at 5 mV/s scan rate, andthe values are 3.5 F/g, 16.39 F/g, and 28.68 F/g, respectively. Also, the energy density of each electrode at 5 mV/s scan rate has been calculated and the results show that incorporation of GO and G nanolayers with PTh nanoparticles enhances the electrochemical properties of electrodes.