Effects of potential modes on performances of electrodeposited poly[Ni(salen)]/MWCNTs composite as supercapacitor electrode material

Abstract

In this investigation, poly[Ni(salen)]/MWCNTs composites (PMCs) were synthesised by electrodeposition method via linear sweep potential (LSP), potentiostatic (PS) and one-step potential pulse (SPP) modes, respectively. It was found that different modes resulted in diverse poly[Ni(salen)] morphologies. With the equal deposition time, the PMCs prepared via PS mode exhibited better capacity performances as electrode materials of supercapacitors. The specific capacitances of products prepared by LSP, PS and SPP modes were 72.8Fg-1, 151.5Fg-1 and 106.2Fg-1 at 0.02mAcm-2, which is due to the difference of thickness of poly[Ni(salen)] wrapped on MWCNTs and length of poly[Ni(salen)] nano-belt. In addition, all the samples exhibited good reversibility as electrode materials.