Compositional effects of PEDOT-PSS/single walled carbon nanotube films on supercapacitor device performance

By Antiohos, Dennis; Folkes, Glenn; Sherrell, Peter; Ashraf, Syed; Wallace, Gordon G.; Aitchison, Phil; Harris, Andrew T.; Chen, Jun & Minett, Andrew I.
Published in J. Mater. Chem. The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

Abstract

Supercapacitors are promising energy storage and power output technologies due to their improved energy density, rapid charge-discharge cycle, high cycle efficiency and long cycle life. Free standing poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrene sulfonate)/single walled nanotube films have been characterised by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and thermo-gravimetric analysis to understand the physical properties of the films. Films with varying compositions of poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrene sulfonate) and single walled nanotubes were compared by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge to understand their electrochemical properties. A comparison of the results shows that having single walled nanotubes dispersed throughout the polymer matrix increase the capacitance by 65% and the energy density by a factor of 3 whilst achieving good capacity retention over 1000 cycles.

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