Electrochemically treated graphite/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-carbon nanotubes electrode: facile preparation and remarkable enhancement in electrochemical performances

Abstract

This work reports an approach to significantly improve the supercapacitive properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-carbon nanotubes (PEDOT-CNTs) hybrid electrodes. Specifically, a facile electrochemical treatment method is put forward to roughen graphite (G). After that, the electrochemically treated graphite (EG) acts as the substrate to load the PEDOT-CNTs composites by electrochemical co-deposition. The obtained EG/PEDOT-CNTs electrode shows substantially enhanced electrochemical performances with respect to G/PEDOT-CNTs electrode, caused by optimal electron transfer pathways between PEDOT-CNTs composite films and the roughened EG substrate. Here, the EG/PEDOT-CNTs electrode achieves a high specific capacitance of 278.7 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, higher than those of PEDOT based composite electrodes in various studies reported recently. This study demonstrates that the roughening treatment of the electrode substrate is an effective approach to substantially promote the supercapacitive properties of electrodes.