Determination of The Specific Capacitance of Conducting Polymer/nanotubes Composite Electrodes Using Different Cell Configurations
Determination of The Specific Capacitance of Conducting Polymer/nanotubes Composite Electrodes Using Different Cell Configurations
Determination of The Specific Capacitance of Conducting Polymer/nanotubes Composite Electrodes Using Different Cell Configurations
Received 30 April 2004; received in revised form 9 October 2004; accepted 14 October 2004
Available online 16 December 2004
Abstract
Composite materials containing 20 wt.% of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and 80 wt.% of chemically formed conducting
polymers (ECP) as polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy) have been prepared and used for supercapacitor electrodes. The well conducting
properties of MWNTs and their available mesoporosity allow a good charge propagation in the composites. Moreover, due to the good resiliency
of MWNTs, an excellent stability of the supercapacitor electrodes is observed. It has been shown that the capacitance values for the composites
strongly depend on the cell construction. In the case of three electrode cells, extremely high values can be found from 250 to 1100 F/g, however
in the two electrode cell much smaller specific capacitance values of 190 F/g for PPy/MWNTs and 360 F/g for PANI/MWNTs have been
measured. It highlights the fact that only two-electrode cells allow a good estimation of materials performance in electrochemical capacitors.
The applied voltage was found to be the key factor influencing the specific capacitance of nanocomposites. For operating each electrode in
its optimal potential range, asymmetric capacitors have been built with PPy/MWNTs as negative and PANI/MWNTs as positive electrodes
giving capacitance values of 320 F/g per electrode material.
© 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Supercapacitor; Conducting polymers; Carbon nanotubes; Polypyrrole; Polyaniline; Asymmetric capacitor
1. Introduction for this application due to their excellent capacity for energy
storage, easy synthesis, higher conductivity and lower cost
Recently, many attempts have been devoted to the use than many other conducting polymers [2].
of electronically conducting polymers (ECPs) as electrode However, the long-term stability during cycling is a major
materials in electrochemical capacitors, often called superca- demand for an industrial application of ECPs. Swelling and
pacitors [1]. The increasing interest in such polymers is stim- shrinkage of ECPs is well known and may lead to degradation
ulated by the demand of active materials with high specific of the electrode during cycling. It occurs because the dop-
capacitance, for maximum specific energy and specific power ing of polymers requires the insertion/deinsertion of counter
of the device. Especially polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole ions, which cause a volume change. Thus, the mechanical
(PPy) have been considered as the most promising materials stress in the polymer film relates directly with the cycle-
life of polymer-based capacitors. This has been overcome
to some extent by the use of composite structures, for ex-
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 2 3825 5375; fax: +33 2 3863 3796. ample, a combination of ECP and insulating polymers with
E-mail address: [email protected] (F. Béguin).
1 On leave from the Kiev National University of Technology and Design, good mechanical properties such as poly-N(vinyl alcohol)
2, Nemirovich-Danchenko Str., 02011 Kiev, Ukraine. and polystyrene [3,4]. However, in each case, the conductiv-
2 ISE member. ity of the composite materials is lower than in the pristine
0013-4686/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2004.10.078
2500 V. Khomenko et al. / Electrochimica Acta 50 (2005) 2499–2506
ECP. Rather high energy and power densities have been re- cal method. The electrochemical method is limited in terms
ported when ECPs are deposited as a thin coating on some of mass production of the materials and also it is not suit-
supporting substrate such as carbon paper and cloth [5–7]. able for preparing composites with a large proportion of
Hence, the most interesting solution is to use carbon mate- polymer.
rials to improve the mechanical properties of the electrodes. Composites were prepared by immersion of the MWNTs
Moreover, the presence of carbon in the bulk of ECPs al- (0.1 g) into an aqueous solution of monomer and by addi-
lows to ensure a good electronic conduction in the electrode tion of an oxidant to this solution. Electroconducting PPy
when the polymer is in its insulating state. However, electro- was deposited on MWNTs by chemical polymerization of
conducting carbon additives generally provide a low specific 0.5 ml pyrrole with 1.2 g of FeCl3 in 50 ml of 0.1 mol l−1 HCl.
capacity in comparison to ECPs. Therefore, it is necessary to The PANI/MWNT nanocomposite was synthesized by poly-
minimize the carbon content in the composite in order to ob- condensation of 0.4 ml aniline by 0.4 g K2 Cr2 O7 in 50 ml of
tain a high value of specific capacitance and energy per total 1 mol l−1 HCl. The nanocomposites materials were then fil-
mass of supercapacitor electrode. For these reasons, it can be tered and washed with a large amount of water and several
profitable to use a moderate amount of nanotubular materials times with ethanol to remove the residual oxidant. At the end,
as surface area-enhancing component and as electronic con- all composites were washed with acetone and dried at 60 ◦ C.
ductor in ECP-based electrodes. Different kinds of nanotubes The content of MWNTs in the composites was determined
and their composites have been already proposed as electrode by weighing of the dry composite materials.
materials for supercapacitors [8–16]. Thin layers of ECP can The electrodes were pellets obtained by pressing the com-
be deposited on the nanotubes, while still keeping the advan- posite material at 500 kg cm−2 . The diameter of the pellets
tage of their open mesoporous network that allows an easy was 1 cm. It was experimentally found that it is possible to
diffusion of ions. Hence, electrodes containing an important form electrodes without any polymer binder in the case of the
mass of ECP can be prepared from such nanocomposites and nanocomposite materials. These electrodes have good me-
used in supercapacitors. chanical properties preserved after long cycling. Scanning
This work focuses on the combination of the complemen- electron microscopy (SEM, HITACHI S 4200) has been used
tary properties of ECPs and multiwalled carbon nanotubes for the observation of the obtained composite materials and
(MWNTs) prepared by catalytic decomposition of acetylene of the pellet capacitor electrodes.
on a Cox Mg1−x O solid solution [17]. Considerable attention The electrodes were tested by cyclic voltammetry and
is paid to the determination of the specific capacitance of galvanostatic charge–discharge cycling in 1 mol l−1 H2 SO4
materials based on two kinds of conducting polymer, i.e. as electrolyte using a VMP multichannel potentio-
polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PANI). The values of spe- stat–galvanostat (Biologic, France). Two- and three-electrode
cific capacitance reported in literature are mainly quoted in cells were used for the measurements. The two-electrode
terms of number of farads per gram (F/g) of active material. cells were built with a glassy fibrous separator and gold
Rather, different values of specific capacitance are reported current collectors using a sandwich type construction (elec-
for the conducting polymers and their composites due to the trode/separator/electrode) and Swagelok® cylinder cells
variable properties of ECPs and the difference in the experi- from Teflon. In the case of the three-electrode cell, the work-
mental methods used for capacitance determination. For ex- ing electrode was the MWNT/ECP composite, a platinum
ample, with PPy, capacitance values ranging from 100 to wire was the counter electrode, and Hg/Hg2 SO4 was used as
500 F/g are reported using different experimental techniques reference electrode.
[5–7]. The reasons for this phenomenon are not clearly under-
stood. For better understanding of this inconsistency, special
attention is paid in this study to specify the electrochemical 3. Results and discussion
technique used, and to verify the results obtained from the
two- and three-electrode cell set up. A comparison of the 3.1. Morphological characteristics
capacitance values for different ECP/MWNTs composites is
presented emphasizing the crucial role of nanotubes and the The surface morphology of the PANI/MWNTs and
kind of cell construction on the results obtained. PPy/MWNTs nanocomposites containing 80 wt.% of ECP
is shown in Fig. 1a and b. The SEM picture 1a shows that
a homogeneous layer of PANI covers the surface of indi-
2. Experimental vidual MWNTs. The average diameter of the nanotubes af-
ter chemical deposition of PANI are up to 80 nm. For com-
For preparing the nanocomposite materials, we used parison, it should be noted that the diameter of the pristine
MWNTs prepared by acetylene decomposition on MgO sup- MWNTs is mainly ranging from 10 to 15 nm [17]. In the case
ported cobalt particles at 600 ◦ C [17]. ECP/MWNTs com- of PPy/MWNTs, a non-uniform layer of composite was ob-
posites are fabricated by chemical oxidative polymeriza- served (Fig. 1b). After an initial period of MWNTs coating,
tion of a monomer on the surface of MWNTs in order to PPy tends to preferentially grow on itself rather than on the
overcome the problems encountered with the electrochemi- carbon nanotubes. In the PPy composite materials, a large
V. Khomenko et al. / Electrochimica Acta 50 (2005) 2499–2506 2501
Fig. 1. Scanning electron micrographs showing the morphology of (a) PANI/MWNTs and (b) PPy/MWNTs composite materials, which contain 80 wt.% of
conducting polymer.
amount of polymer globules is observed on the surface of MWNTs presented a texture similar to that of the pure poly-
MWNTs. mer. From the electrochemical characterization, it was found
The pellet composite electrodes were also examined by that such dense pellet electrodes demonstrate a high initial
SEM. From Fig. 2a, it can be seen that all the polymer is resistance and a small value of specific capacitance. Hence,
dispersed on the nanotubes, keeping the advantage of the en- under the limit of 20 wt.% of MWNTs, the electrodes have a
tangled network of the nanotubes that allows a good access limited permeability for the electrolyte and are not applicable
of the electrolyte to the active polymer material. There is no for high performance capacitors.
doubt that such a texture of the capacitor electrodes is opti-
mal for the fast ion diffusion and migration in the polymer 3.2. Electrochemical characterization
so that the electrode performance should be improved. By
contrast, as can be seen from Fig. 2b, the electrodes, which The obtained composite electrodes containing 80 wt.% of
are pressed from pure ECP, are not porous. The pellets of ECP were characterized in three-electrode cells by cyclic
composite electrodes, which contained less than 20 wt.% of voltammetry and galvanostatic discharge. Cyclic voltammo-
Fig. 2. SEM micrographs showing the morphology of a cross-section of pellets (a) PANI/MWNTs and (b) pure PANI.
2502 V. Khomenko et al. / Electrochimica Acta 50 (2005) 2499–2506
Fig. 3. Cyclic voltammogram (three-electrode cell) of a PPy/MWNTs pellet Fig. 5. Galvanostatic discharge curve (three-electrode cell) at 2 mA of a
electrode; mass of composite, 9.6 mg; electrolyte, 1 mol l−1 H2 SO4 ; scan PPy/MWNTs pellet electrode; mass of composite, 9.6 mg.
rate, 5 mV/s.
The specific capacitance of the composite electrodes was
grams (CV) for PPy and PANI composite electrodes are also determined by galvanostatic discharge. The potential
shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. The CV curves show the range for this experiment was chosen taking into account
reversible charge/discharge behavior of the composite elec- the CV curves. It should be noted that all ECPs may supply a
trodes. The shape of the obtained curve is very similar to the charge within the potential window, which is determined by
typical CV of thin ECP films on different substrates shown in the polymer degradation at positive potential and the switch-
other investigations [18,19]. This means that the properties ing to an isolating state (undoped state) at negative potential
of the composite electrodes are generally determined by the during the discharge of the electrode. According to Fig. 3,
electrochemical behavior of ECP. It is noteworthy that the the maximum positive value for the PPy composite electrode
pure MWNTs supply a capacitance of ca. 20 F/g [20]. Addi- is ca. 0.2 V versus Hg/Hg2 SO4 . Potentials more positive than
tionally, the pellets contain only 20 wt.% of MWNTs against 0.2 V are related with a fast increase of the current response
80 wt.% of ECP. Hence, the double-layer current due to the due to an irreversible oxidation of the polymer. The negative
capacitance of MWNTs is negligible compared to the charge value is −0.6 V versus Hg/Hg2 SO4 , which corresponds to
stored by the ECP. the potential in the fully undoped state of the PPy electrode.
The capacitance value was obtained from the CV curves Hence, the maximum useful potential range for the PPy elec-
according to the equation: trode is 0.8 V. In the case of electrodes based on PANI, it was
necessary to operate with a smaller voltage range because the
i
C= (1) potential of switching to the isolating state is more positive
s (−0.4 V versus Hg/Hg2 SO4 according to Fig. 4) than in the
where i is the average current and s is the potential sweep rate. case of the PPy composite electrode.
According to this formula, the cathodic charge determined Taking into account the accurate potential range, the gal-
by integration of the negative sweep of the CV curves is very vanostatic and CV measurements provide very close values
high for such composite electrodes. The capacitance is 670 of specific capacitance for the composite electrodes. As it
and 506 F/g of electrode for the PANI and PPy composite is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the ECP/MWNTs composite ex-
electrodes, respectively. hibits a non-constant current response in cyclic voltamme-
try with one maximum for PPy or several maxima for PANI
instead of the typical rectangular voltammogram expected
for an ideal double layer capacitor. The maxima on the CV
curve are related with bigger values of capacitance in this
range of potential. Hence, the galvanostatic discharge curves
(Figs. 5 and 6) are not linear in the total range of potential, and
they are characterized by varying slopes during discharge.
Since the capacitance of the electrode can be evaluated from
the galvanostatic discharge curve by the equation C = I/tg(α),
where α is the angle between the discharge curve and the time
scale; the composite electrodes show a higher capacitance in
the negative than in the positive potential range. In the case
of the PPy composite electrode, the evaluated specific capac-
Fig. 4. Cyclic voltammogram (three-electrode cell) of a PANI/MWNTs pel-
itance is 250 F/g in the potential range from 0.2 to −0.3 V
let electrode; mass of composite, 5.4 mg; electrolyte 1 mol l−1 H2 SO4 ; scan versus Hg/Hg2 SO4 and 903 F/g for the range from −0.3 to
rate, 2 mV/s. −0.6 V (Fig. 5). The average value is 495 F/g for the total
V. Khomenko et al. / Electrochimica Acta 50 (2005) 2499–2506 2503
Fig. 7. Cyclic voltammogram (5 mV/s) of a symmetric capacitor, based on Fig. 10. Galvanostatic charge/discharge characteristics of a symmetric ca-
PPy/MWNTs composite electrodes (two-electrode cell); mass of each elec- pacitor based on PANI/MWNTs composite electrodes (two-electrode cell);
trode, 8.6 mg. current, 2 mA; mass of each electrode, 10.4 mg.
2504 V. Khomenko et al. / Electrochimica Acta 50 (2005) 2499–2506
Table 1
Average value of specific capacitance (F/g) of composite electrodes depend-
ing on the measurement technique
ECP in the Three-electrode Two-electrode
composite electrode cell cell
CV Galvanostatic CV Galvanostatic
discharge discharge
PPy 506 495 192 200
PANI 670 650 344 360
4. Conclusion