Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide intercalated graphene/polypyrrole nanowire composites for high performance supercapacitor electrode

Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy) nanowires were prepared by in situ polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide stabilized graphene (GCR). PPy nanowire/GCR composites with different loading ratios were tested as supercapacitor electrode materials in both 1 M H₂SO₄ (aq) and 1 M KCl (aq) electrolytes, and different electrochemical behaviors were observed. The incorporation of GCR nanosheets into the PPy nanowire matrix obviously improved the electrochemical performance of PPy and a high specific capacitance of 492 F g⁻¹ can be obtained for PPyGCR91 in 1 M H₂SO₄ at a current density of 0.2 A g⁻¹ with good cycling stability.