Chemical synthesis of polyaniline and polythiophene electrodes with excellent performance in supercapacitors

Peringath, A. R., Bayan, M. A.H., Beg, M., Jain, A., Pierini, F., Gadegaard, N. , Hogg, R. and Manjakkal, L. (2023) Chemical synthesis of polyaniline and polythiophene electrodes with excellent performance in supercapacitors. Journal of Energy Storage, 73(Part A), 108811. (doi: 10.1016/j.est.2023.108811)

Abstract

The emergence of portable electronics in miniaturized and intelligent devices demands high-performance supercapacitors (SC) and batteries as power sources. For the fabrication of such energy storage devices, conducting polymers (CPs) have significant advantages due to their high theoretical capacitive performance and conductivity. In this work, we developed two CPs including polyaniline and polythiophene through a low-cost chemically synthesized approach and the film-by-spin coating method. The structural and morphological properties of the CPs are analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), contact angle measurement, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on these CPs, novel pristine polyaniline and polythiophene-based SCs (PASC and PTSC) are developed. The prepared CPs contribute to high electrochemical performances due to their high conductive nature of the electrode and conjugated polymer materials reaction. Hence both electrochemical double-layer formation and pseudocapacitance contributed to the energy-storing performances of the device. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopic analysis (0.1 Hz to 100 kHz) demonstrates faster ionic exchange and high capacitance of the PASC electrode as compared to PTSC in H3PO4 electrolyte. The PASC devices exhibit specific capacitance of 13.22 mF·cm−2 with energy and power densities of 1.175 μW·h·cm−2 and 4.99 μW·cm−2 at a current of 50 μA. Compared to PTSC (specific capacitance 3.30 mF·cm−2) the PASC shows four times higher specific capacitance due to its improved surface, structural and electrical properties. The electrochemical performance reveals the superior SC performance for this type of CP electrode.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the NERC discipline hopping activities to tackle environmental challenges project (SEED-2022-317475). This work was partially supported by the National Science Centre (NCN) SONATA BIS Project No. 2020/38/E/ST5/00456. This work was also financially supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR, Poland); Project number: V4-Japan/2/17/AtomDeC/ 2022 under the Visegrad Group-Japan 2021 Joint Call on Advanced Materials in cooperation with the International Visegrad Fund. NG acknowledges funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme in Energy materials with biological applications (EMGUT): grant ref. No. NNF22OC0072961.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hogg, Professor Richard and Gadegaard, Professor Nikolaj and Manjakkal, Dr Libu

Creator Roles

Gadegaard, N.: Investigation, Writing – review and editing, Supervision
Hogg, R.: Investigation, Writing – review and editing, Supervision
Manjakkal, L.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Supervision

• Authors: Peringath, A. R., Bayan, M. A.H., Beg, M., Jain, A., Pierini, F., Gadegaard, N., Hogg, R., and Manjakkal, L.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Journal of Energy Storage
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2352-152X
• ISSN (Online): 2352-152X
• Published Online: 30 August 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Energy Storage 73(Part A):108811
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license