Abstract
Herein, we propose hydrothermal treatment as a facile and environmentally friendly approach for the synthesis of polypyrrole/reduced graphene oxide hybrids. A series of self-assembled hybrid materials with different component mass ratios of conductive polymer to graphene oxide was prepared. The morphology, porous structure, chemical composition and electrochemical performance of the synthesized hybrids as electrode materials for supercapacitors were investigated. Nitrogen sorption analysis at 77 K revealed significant changes in the textural development of the synthesized materials, presenting specific surface areas ranging from 25 to 199 m2 g−1. The combination of the pseudocapacitive polypyrrole and robust graphene material resulted in hybrids with excellent electrochemical properties, which achieved specific capacitances as high as 198 F g−1 at a current density of 20 A g−1 and retained up to 92% of their initial capacitance after 3000 charge–discharge cycles. We found that a suitable morphology and chemical composition are key factors that determine the electrochemical properties of polypyrrole/reduced graphene oxide hybrid materials.
Highlights
The ever-growing demand for efficient and durable energy storage devices warrants the development of novel materials and solutions that will meet our expectations
A series of PPy/graphene oxide (GO)-HT hybrids with excellent electrochemical performance were fabricated via a hydrothermal self-assembly process
At the low current density of 0.2 A g−1, the highest specific capacitance of 262 F g−1 was recorded for PPy/GO-HT-1:1, while at the high current density of 20 A g−1, the PPy/GO-HT-1:9 hybrid exhibited the best rate capability and capacitive performance of 198 F g-1
Summary
The ever-growing demand for efficient and durable energy storage devices warrants the development of novel materials and solutions that will meet our expectations. The charge storage mechanism in supercapacitors is strictly dependent on the type of electrode material used and can be classified into two categories: electrical double layer (EDL) capacitance and pseudocapacitance [3]. The former takes advantage of the electrostatic charge accumulation at the surface of highly porous carbon materials, including activated carbons [2], carbon nanotubes/nanofibers [4] and graphene-related materials [5]. The latter energy storage mechanism is based on Faradaic redox reactions of heteroatom-doped carbons [6], transition metal compounds (oxides [7], sulfides [8] or nitrides [9]) and conductive polymers [10,11]
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