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Preparation and electrochemical investigations of well coated carbon fiber-conducting polymer composites.

Ashok K. Sharma 1Jong-Huy Kim Yong-Sung Lee 

1. Department of Chemistry, Vaish College, Rohtak 124001, India

Abstract

Electrode material based on composite of vapor grown carbon fiber(VGCF) and polyyrrole(Ppy) was synthesized by insitu chemical polymerization using different concentrations of pyrrole in the initial polymerization solution, so as to improve the specific capacitance and power characteristics of polypyrrole. Polypyrrole thin films were chemically deposited on vapor grown carbon nano fibers. Ppy-carbon fiber composite electrodes obtained by coating of PPy on VGCF with controlled thickness, has been investigated as electrode material for supercapacitors. Polymerization reaction was carried out with constant sonication. The PPy/VGCF composite was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The surface morphology of the polymer films was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and scanning transmission emission microscopy(TEM). The capacitances of the composite electrodes were investigated with cyclic voltammetry(CV). Below ~10 nm of uniformly deposited nano-thin PPy layer on VGCF(02PV) was effective to obtain fully reversible and very fast Faradaic reaction. Almost the entire mass of the PPy for the 02PV composite could contribute to the pseudo-capacitive charge storage. The nano-thin PPy layer exhibited higher specific capacitance of ~588 F g-1at 30 mV s-1and ~545 F g-1 at 200 mV s-1 along with an excellent power capability.

Keywords: Composite electrode, Polypyrrole, supercapacitor, vapor grown carbon fiber.

 

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Presentation: Oral at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006, Symposium A, by Ashok K. Sharma
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006

Submitted: 2006-05-20 11:45
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44