Composite supercapacitor electrodes made of activated carbon/PEDOT:PSS and activated carbon/doped PEDOT

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the high electrical storage capacity of composite electrodes made from nanoscale activated carbon combined with either poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) or PEDOT doped with multiple dopants such as ammonium persulfate (APS) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The composites were fabricated by electropolymerization of the conducting polymers (PEDOT:PSS, doped PEDOT) onto the nanoscale activated carbon backbone, wherein the nanoscale activated carbon was produced by ball-milling followed by chemical and thermal treatments. Activated carbon/PEDOT:PSS yielded capacitance values of 640 F g-1 and 26mF cm-2, while activated carbon/doped PEDOT yielded capacitances of 1183 F g-1 and 42 mF cm-2 at 10 mV s-1. This is more than five times the storage capacity previously reported for activated carbon-PEDOT composites. Further, use of multiple dopants in PEDOT improved the storage performance of the composite electrode well over that of PEDOT:PSS. The composite electrodes were characterized for their electrochemical behaviour, structural and morphological details and electronic conductivity and showed promise as high-performance energy storage systems. © Indian Academy of Sciences.