One-Step Fabrication of Integrated Graphene/Polypyrrole/Carbon Cloth Films for Supercapacitor Electrodes

Abstract

The facile and cost-effective preparation of supercapacitor electrodes is significant for the application of this kind of electrochemical energy-storing module. In this work, we designed a feasible strategy to fabricate a binary active material onto a current collector in one step. A colloidal mixture of graphene oxide and pyrrole layered on a carbon cloth could undergo a redox reaction through a mild hydrothermal process to yield a reduced graphene oxide/polypyrrole hydrogel film anchored onto the carbon cloth. The integrated electrode with the porous graphene/polypyrrole active material could be directly utilized as a freestanding working electrode for electrochemical measurements and the assembly of supercapacitor devices. The as-prepared electrode could achieve a high capacitance of 1221 mF cm–2 at 1 mA cm–2 (531 F g–1) with satisfactory cycling stability. The constructed symmetric supercapacitor with two optimal electrodes could provide an energy density of 70.4 μWh cm–2 (15.3 Wh kg–1). This work offers a feasible pathway toward the integration of graphene/conducting polymer composites as electrochemical electrodes.