Enhancing the stability of electrochemical asymmetric supercapacitor by incorporating thiophene-pyrrole copolymer with nickel sulfide/nickel hydroxide composite

The practical application of a supercapacitor predominantly relies on its sustained cyclic stability. Hence it is essential to develop materials with high stability for the efficient supercapacitor applications. Herein, we demonstrate the integration of a copolymer of poly thiophene-pyrrole (cPPyTh) to surpass the limited cyclic stability of the nickel sulfide/nickel hydroxide (NSH) composite. Though the lower electronegativity of sulfur in coexistence with hydroxide achieves a superior capacity for NSH, it lacks extended cyclic stability. By incorporating cPPyTh into the layers of NSH, the stability of the resultant composite (NCP) could be enhanced by preventing the aggregation of layered NSH during longer runs. NCP electrode provides a specific capacity of 87 C/g at a current density of 1 A/g in a three-electrode system. An energy density of 25.47 Wh/kg and power density of 8.65 kW/kg is obtained for the asymmetric supercapacitor fabricated with NCP as positive and modified activated carbon (MAC) as negative electrode. The NCP demonstrates a superior cyclic stability of over 94% for 10,000 cycles in comparison to NSH with stability ~ 73% over 5,000 cycles for the asymmetric supercapacitor.

Automated summary

To improve the cyclic stability of nickel sulfide/nickel hydroxide (NSH) composite, researchers have incorporated a copolymer of poly thiophene-pyrrole (cPPyTh). The resulting composite, named NCP, shows enhanced stability and specific capacity of 87 C/g at 1 A/g. In an asymmetric supercapacitor, NCP demonstrates a superior cyclic stability of over 94% for 10,000 cycles compared to NSH's stability of ~73% over 5,000 cycles.