Conductive cellulose nanocrystals with high cycling stability for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

A facile method of polymerizing polypyrrole (PPy) on poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) coated cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was developed. The PPy/PVP/CNCs possessed a well-defined core–shell structure with well-preserved one-dimensional (1D) fibril geometry. Stable hybrid CNC was produced and no PPy particles were formed in the bulk solution. Significant improvement in the electrochemical performance was achieved when compared to PPy coated Tempo-CNC reported previously. A high conductivity of 36.9 S cm⁻¹ was achieved with an excellent specific capacitance of 322.6 F g⁻¹ and improved cycling stability of less than 9 and 13% loss after 1000 and 2000 cycles respectively. The strategy of using PVP as an effective surface modifier to improve the conductive polymer deposition on CNC proves to be a critical necessary step.