MnO2-Polypyrrole Conducting Polymer Composite Electrodes for Electrochemical Redox Supercapacitors

Redox supercapacitors using electrochemically synthesised MnO2-polypyrrole composite electrodes have been fabricated with different electrolytes, namely polymer electrolyte film (polyvinyl alcohol, PVA-H3PO4 aqueous blend), aprotic liquid electrolyte (LiClO4-propylene carbonate, PC) and polymeric gel electrolyte [poly methyl methacrylate, (PMMA)-Ethylene carbonate (EC)-Propylene carbonate (PC)-NaClO4]. The capacitors have been characterised using galvanostatic charge-discharge methods. The cell with aqueous PVA-H3PO4 shows non-capacitive behaviour owing to some reversible chemical reaction of MnO2 with water while the MnO2-polypyrrole composite is found to be a suitable electrode material for redox supercapacitors with aprotic (non-aqueous) electrolytes. The solid state supercapacitor based on MnO2-polypyrrole composite electrodes with gel electrolyte gives stable values of capacitance of 10.0-18.0 mF cm(-2) for different discharge current densities.