Boosting the supercapacitive properties of polypyrrole with chitosan and hybrid silver nanoparticles/nanoclusters

By Gan, John Kevin; Lim, Yee Seng; Huang, Nay Ming; Lim, Hong Ngee
Published in RSC Adv The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016

Abstract

We report a one-step route to hierarchical polypyrrole/chitosan decorated with hybrid Ag nanoparticles/nanoclusters (Ag@PPy/CS) via electrodeposition. The ternary nanocomposite electrode was applied as an electrode material for a supercapacitor. Experimental results showed that the ternary nanocomposite has a specific capacitance of 513 F g-1 at 0.2 A g-1, which was greatly improved from that of the PPy electrode (273 F g-1). The chitosan provided excellent hydrophilicity to the ternary nanocomposite, at the same time it controlled the growth of metallic Ag. The ultra-small Ag nanoparticles (1-2 nm) enhanced the electrical conductivity of the PPy while the Ag nanoclusters (30-80 nm) acted as spacers to prevent the restacking of the electrode films as well as contributing to the electrical conductivity. The as-assembled symmetric supercapacitor of the ternary nanocomposite delivered a specific capacitance of 183 F g-1 and outstanding cycling stability with 98.3% capacitance retention after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. Considering the facile preparation and moreover the exceptional electrochemical performance, the Ag@PPy/CS nanocomposite electrode could be well-suited for high-performance supercapacitors.

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