Asymmetric electrochemical supercapacitor, based on polypyrrole coated carbon nanotube electrodes

• Polypyrrole (PPy) coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were prepared.
• New method is based on the use of new electrochemically active dopants for PPy.
• The dopans provided dispersion of MWCNT and promoted PPy coating formation.
• Symmetric PPy–MWCNT supercapacitors showed high capacitance and low resistance.
• Asymmetric PPy–MWCNT/VN–MWCNT devices and modules allowed larger voltage window.

Conductive polypyrrole (PPy) polymer – multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) composites were synthesized using sulfanilic acid azochromotrop (SPADNS) and sulfonazo III sodium salt (CHR-BS) as anionic dopants for chemical polymerization of PPy. The composites were tested for application in electrodes of electrochemical supercapacitors (ES). Sedimentation tests, electrophoretic deposition experiments and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) investigations showed that strong adsorption of anionic CHR-BS on MWCNT provided MWCNT dispersion. The analysis of scanning and transmission electron microscopy data demonstrated that the use of CHR-BS allowed the formation of PPy coatings on MWCNT. As a result, the composites, prepared using CHR-BS, showed higher capacitance, compared to the composites, prepared using SPADNS. The electrodes, containing MWCNT, coated with PPy showed a capacitance of 179 F g−1 for active mass loading of 10 mg cm−2, good capacitance retention at scan rates in the range of 2–100 mV s−1 and excellent cyclic stability. Asymmetric ES devices, containing positive PPy–MWCNT electrodes and negative vanadium nitride (VN)–MWCNT electrodes showed significant improvement in energy storage performance, compared to the symmetric ES due to the larger voltage window. The low impedance and high capacitance of the individual cells paved the way to the development of modules with higher voltage, which showed good electrochemical performance.

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