Conducting Polymers Directly Coated on Reduced Graphene Oxide Sheets as High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes

TLDR

The study prepares conducting‑polymer‑RGO nanocomposites by in‑situ polymerization of PEDOT, PANi, and PPy on reduced graphene oxide sheets to explore their electrochemical performance. Electrochemical capacitance was evaluated with cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge measurements, while ethanol was used to achieve uniform polymer coatings on RGO. RGO‑PANi achieved 361 F g⁻¹, RGO‑PPy 248 F g⁻¹, and RGO‑PEDOT 108 F g⁻¹ at 0.3 A g⁻¹, retaining over 80 % of capacitance after 1000 cycles, demonstrating synergistic performance from the polymer–RGO combination.

Abstract

In this work, conducting polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), polyaniline (PANi), and polypyrrole (PPy) were directly coated on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets via an in situ polymerization process to prepare conducting-polymer-RGO nanocomposites with different loadings of the conducting polymers. Experiment results showed that ethanol played an important role in achieving a uniform coating of the polymers on RGO sheets. The electrochemical capacitive properties of the composite materials were investigated by using cycle voltammetry and charge/discharge techniques. The composite consisting of RGO and PANi (RGO-PANi) exhibited a specific capacitance of 361 F/g at a current density of 0.3 A/g. The composites consisting of RGO and PPy (RGO-PPy) and PEDOT (RGO-PEDOT) displayed specific capacitances of 248 and 108 F/g, respectively, at the same current density. More than 80% of initial capacitance retained after 1000 charge/discharge cycles, suggesting a good cycling stability of the composite electrodes. The good capacitive performance of the conducting–polymer-RGO composites is contributed to the synergic effect of the two components.