Polymerized fuchsin and modified carbon nanotube electrodes for electrochemical capacitors

Abstract

Chemically polymerized fuchsin (CpF) and electrochemically polymerized fuchsin (EpF) were developed to modify multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as composite electrodes for electrochemical capacitors (EC). The cyclic voltammograms (CV) of both modified electrodes exhibited multiple highly reversible redox features indicating pseudocapacitive behavior. The capacitance was ca. 2x greater than that of bare MWCNT electrode. While all electrodes exhibited excellent cycle life, CpF-MWCNT performed even better than its electropolymerized counterpart. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the deposition of a 1-nanometer thin layer on MWCNT, with good adhesion. The chemical structure and thermal analyses confirmed that H2O2 is an effective reactant to polymerize fuchsin, and the resulting polymer is semi-crystalline and stable for EC applications.