Facile preparation of reduced graphene oxide, polypyrrole, carbon black, and polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposite by electrospinning: a low-cost and sustainable approach for supercapacitor application

Abstract

The design and synthesis of nanostructures have played an essential role in the supercapacitor field. In this paper, nanofiber composites including graphene oxide (GO), polypyrrole (PPy), carbon black (CB), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as GO/PPy/PVA, rGO/PPy/PVA, GO/PPy/CB/PVA, and rGO/PPy/CB/PVA were synthesized using an easy, low cost, and sustainable approach, which is the electrospinning technique. Nanofiber composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy–attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), and solid-state conductivity analysis. Device performances were tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis. The Randles circuit model of Rs(CdlRct)) was adopted to understand the dynamic parameters such as: the solution resistance (Rs), the double layer capacitance (Cdl), and the charge transfer resistance (Rct). The highest specific capacitances were obtained as Csp= 951 F/g by the CV method, Csp= 272 F/g by the GCD method, and Csp= 140.3 F/g by the EIS method for rGO/PPy/CB/PVA nanofiber composites. It is supported by other results such as phase angle (θ= 66°) and solid conductivity (625 S/cm). Therefore, the encouraging results of rGO/PPy/CB/PVA nanofiber show the potential of this nanocomposite as a promote electrodes for flexible supercapacitors due to the considerable specific capacitance, the excellent cycling retention and the important power and energy densities.