Synthesis, Characterization and Electrochemical Study of Carbon Nanotube/Chitosan-Ferrocene Nanocomposite Electrode as Supercapacitor Material

Abstract

A carbon nanotube/chitosan-ferrocene nanocomposite (CNTs/Cs-Fc) was synthesized and its competence as an electrode material for a supercapacitor was studied. Chitosan (Cs) was functionalized with 4-bromobutylferrocene and then the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were modified by ferrocenyl-based chitosan to obtain the desired CNTs/Cs-Fc system. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were used for characterization of the CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite. The FT-IR and XRD patterns of the CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite show that the Cs-Fc moieties have successfully been functionalized on CNTs. The morphology of the CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite was shown by the SEM analysis. The existence of carbon, nitrogen, iron and oxygen elements in the CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite were demonstrated by the use of the EDX spectrum. The cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used for the investigation of the electrochemical performance of the papered nanocomposite. A 1 M sulfuric acid solution was used as an electrolyte. The specific capacitances (Csp) calculated at a current density of 1 A g−1 were found to be 75 and 695 (F g−1) for the CNTs and the CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite, respectively. The CNTs/Cs-Fc nanocomposite retained 99.93% after 2000 cycles of cyclic voltammetry.