Pulse electrochemical incorporation of graphene oxide into polypyrrole films for supercapacitor electrode materials

In order to synthesize a PPy/GO composite for supercapacitor applications, a pulse electro-polymerization method was proposed to direct incorporate graphene oxide (GO) into polypyrrole (PPy) films without any additional dopants. The PPy/GO prepared by the pulse electro-polymerization (PC PPy/GO) exhibits a higher specific capacitance. A shorter pulse on time (t(on)) results in higher specific capacitance, but there is an optimum pulse current amplitude (I-A) related to the highest specific capacitance. The PC PPy/GO film (I-A = 4 mA cm(-2), t(on) =50 ms) has a high specific capacitance of 660 F g(-1) estimated from galvanostatic charge-discharge in 1 M KCl at a current density of 0.5 mA cm(-2). Stability tests for the PPy/GO yield long cycling life up to 1000 cycles with 10% decay in specific capacitance at charge-discharge current density of 10 mA cm(-2) in the potential range of -0.5 to 0.5 V-SCE. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.