Conducting Polymer–Carbon-Based Binary Composites for Battery Applications

Abstract

High-energy demand results in fast depletion of fossil fuel and global warming. These environmental issues have raised concern for researchers and have urged them to develop high-efficiency energy storage devices. Battery is the most promising energy storage device and has been used until now. Battery can be grouped into two types: primary batteries and secondary batteries. Among them, secondary batteries have attracted great attention owing to their ability to charge and discharge many times. Electrode material is the critical component for determining the efficiency of batteries. The most common materials used in electrode are transition metal oxides, conducting polymers, and carbonaceous materials. Transition metal oxides and carbonaceous materials have been used and commercialized in battery applications. However, they are still far from satisfaction due to the rapid growth of energy demand. Conducting polymers such as PANI, PI, PTh, PPy, PPP, PA, and PEDOT have been commonly investigated as electrode materials of batteries owing to their unique properties. Agglomerated morphologies and insufficient for electrical conductivity are the major demerits of conducting polymers. Therefore, many publications have reported the incorporation of carbonaceous material with conducting polymers to form composites that can be used as electrode materials in battery applications.