Multilayered Nanoarchitecture of Graphene Nanosheets and Polypyrrole Nanowires for High Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes

Abstract

A novel nanoarchitecture is developed by combining the nanostructured conductive polymer polypyrrole with highly electrically conductive graphene nanosheets in a multilayered configuration to achieve high specific capacitance and low electronic resistance for supercapacitor electrode applications. The fibrous network of polypyrrole nanowires with high electrolyte ionic accessibility was interspersed with electrically conductive monolayers of highly aligned large sized graphene nanosheets as a series of current collectors within the macroscopic configuration for enhanced electronic charge transport inside the electrode. A fabrication method relying on capillary force driven self-assembly coupled with the strong van der Waals attraction between highly aromatic graphene basal plane and π conjugated conductive polymer chains was employed to create a 100% binder free multilayered composite structure of these two distinct nanoscale elements to construct the electrode. This multilayer composite electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of ∼165 F/g with a nearly ideal rectangular cyclic voltammogram at increasing voltage scanning rates and high electrochemical cyclic stability.