Electrochemical Capacitance of Spherical Nanoparticles Formed by Electrodeposition of Intrinsic Polypyrrole onto Au Electrode

•An facile route for synthesis of PPy spherical nanoparticles directly onto electrode.•The maximum SC value is about 356 F/g for the as-prepared intrinsic PPy electrode.•The spherical architecture can provide short ion diffusion paths to enhance the SC

The conducting polypyrrole (PPy) spherical nanoparticles are synthesized by a facile electrochemical deposition method and the polymerization is carried out by potentiostatic methods using a two-electrode system (Au electrode) with a template-free method. The microstructure of the PPy spherical nanoparticles and their electrochemical properties can be tuned by controlling the electrodeposition time and anodic potential in the synthetic process. A maximum specific capacitance of 356 F/g is obtained for as-prepared PPy electrodes from cyclic voltammetry (CV) at a scan rate of 10 mV/s, which is superior or close to some individual PPy nanostructure, PPy/metal, and PPy/carbon materials. Also, the stability of cycling can retain 89.3% of its initial capacitance after 1000 cycles. The capability of fabricating stable polymer electrodes is expected to make an important contribution to the promotion of supercapacitor technology.

Graphical abstractThe conducting polypyrrole (PPy) spherical nanoparticles are synthesized by a facile electrochemical deposition method and the polymerization is carried out by potentiostatic methods using a two-electrode system (Au electrode) with a template-free method. The maximum specific capacitance is about 356 F/g for the intrinsic PPy spherical nanoparticles electrode, which is superior or close to some individual PPy nanostructure, PPy/metal, and PPy/carbon materials.Download high-res image (156KB)Download full-size image