Design and construction of three-dimensional graphene/conducting polymer for supercapacitors

Three-dimensional graphene/conducting polymer (3DGCP) composites have received significant attention in recent years due to their unique structures and promising applications in energy storage. With the structural diversity of graphene and pi-functional conducting polymers via rich chemical routes, a number of 3DGCP composites with novel structures and attractive performance have been developed. Particularly, the hierarchical porosity, the interactions between graphene and conducting polymers as well as the their synergetic effects within 3DGCP composites can be well combined and elaborated by various synthetic methods, which made 3DGCP composites show unique electrochemical properties and significantly improved performance in energy storage fields compared to other graphene-based composites. In this short review, we present recent advances in 3DGCP composites in developing effective strategies to prepare 3DGCP composites and exploring them as a unique platform for supercapacitors with unprecedented performance. The challenges and future opportunities are also discussed for promotion of further study. (C) 2016 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.