Flexible multiwalled carbon nanotubes/conductive polymer composite electrode for supercapacitor applications

The electrode performance of three types of selected electrically conductive polymers (ECPs), namely polyaniline, polypyrrole (PPy) and poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) PEDOT (PSS:PEDOT) composite with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were investigated in this study. The capacitor electrode performance has been examined in both three electrodes half-cell and two electrodes device setups. The nano-composites were fabricated via polymerization of pseudocapacitive conductive monomer onto the MWCNT surface through the in situ chemical polymerization approach. Stainless steel thin foils were used as a current collector as well as a flexible backbone. Graphite conductive ink was used as the binder with the composite powder to form a conductive electrode layer. Half-cell electrochemical study was conducted to optimize the weight proportion between MWCNT and ECP in this parametric study. Two-electrode cell electrochemical study assessed the potential performance for the device. MWCNT was found to serve as the framework for polymerization of the ECP into a tubular structure. Among the three composites, it was discovered that the PPy/MWCNT composite has superior capacitor performance up to scan rate of 500 mV s(-1).