Polypyrrole/SnCl2 modified bacterial cellulose electrodes with high areal capacitance for flexible supercapacitors

Polypyrrole (PPy)/bacterial cellulose (BC) composite membranes are a promising kind of lightweight and flexible electrodes for supercapacitors. Herein, we explored a facile and efficient electrostatic self-assembly approach to uniformly depositing anion-doped PPy onto positively charged SnCl2-modifed BC (SBC). The obtained PPy@SBC electrode exhibited a high areal capacitance of 5718 mF cm-2 at a current density of 0.5 mA cm-2, a desirable capacitance retention of 83.1% at 5.0 mA cm-2 and excellent cycling stability (a capacitance retention of 86.8% after 10,000 cycles at 10 mA cm-2). A symmetric flexible supercapacitor was further assembled with the PPy@SBC electrodes, which delivered outstanding mechanical flexibility with negligible capacitance decay under different bent states. This study shows impressive potential in fabricating high-performance electrodes for flexible supercapacitors.

Automated summary

This study developed a facile and efficient method to deposit anion-doped PPy onto positively charged SnCl2-modified BC using electrostatic self-assembly. The obtained PPy@SBC electrode exhibited high areal capacitance, desirable capacitance retention, and excellent cycling stability. A symmetric flexible supercapacitor assembled with the PPy@SBC electrodes demonstrated outstanding mechanical flexibility and stable performance.