One-step electrochemical synthesis of PEDOT based composites for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine the optimal synthesis conditions for the preparation of a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene) (PEDOT) layer by the electrochemical method from an electrolyte containing graphene oxide (GO) and a sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micellar solution. Besides an SDS anion, GO is also incorporated within the PEDOT layer as a negative counter ion. Therefore, this is a one-step electrochemical method for a PEDOT/GO composite layer prepa-ration. The results displayed that PEDOT composites were successfully synthesised by applying a potential in the value range from 0.94 to 1.00 V, and with a synthesis duration of up to 600 s. It was concluded that the optimal concentration of EDOT monomer is 0.02 mol dm-3, and SDS 0.01 mol dm-3. The incorporation of GO into the PEDOT layer improved the polymer response in KCl solution influencing the pseudocapacitive properties, which is significant for its superca-pacitor applications. The morphological and structural properties of the obtained layers were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. The pseudocapacitive properties were deter-mined in a 0.1 mol dm-3 KCl solution by using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods.