Issue 25, 2016

Ultra-flexible fibrous supercapacitors with carbon nanotube/polypyrrole brush-like electrodes

Abstract

Ultra-flexible fibrous supercapacitors have been fabricated with oxidized carbon nanotubes grown on carbon fiber (OCNTF)/polypyrrole (PPY) brush-like electrodes, for the first time. Hierarchically mesoporous OCNTF serves as a large surface area-bearing electrically conductive substrate for the electropolymerization of PPY during the synthesis of OCNTF/PPY nanocomposites. Here, carbon fiber serves as a mechanical support for the OCNTF/PPY nanocomposite architecture and current collector for the supercapacitor. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis has revealed the presence of various oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of OCNTF. The OCNTF/PPY supercapacitor exhibits a maximum gravimetric capacitance of 305 F g−1 with a gravimetric energy density of 42 W h kg−1 and a maximum volume specific capacitance of 14 950 mF cm−3 at a current density of 2.5 mA cm−2. The enhanced supercapacitive performance of the ultra-flexible OCNTF/PPY supercapacitor is due to the superior pseudocapacitive charge storage exhibited by the oxygen-containing surface functional groups and the redox-active PPY. The supercapacitor is highly bendable and twistable. The ultra-flexible supercapacitor exhibits an excellent cyclic stability of more than 5000 cycles. The all-solid-state flexible OCNTF/PPY supercapacitor module is a promising candidate for application in flexible and wearable electronic devices.

Graphical abstract: Ultra-flexible fibrous supercapacitors with carbon nanotube/polypyrrole brush-like electrodes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Apr 2016
Accepted
13 May 2016
First published
13 May 2016

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 9910-9922

Ultra-flexible fibrous supercapacitors with carbon nanotube/polypyrrole brush-like electrodes

J. Cherusseri and K. K. Kar, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 9910 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA02690G

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