Jingping Wang

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of SnO2@polypyrrole Nanotubes and Their Pyrolyzed Composite as Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Tin dioxide (SnO2) as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode has attracted numerous interests due to its huge Li(+) storage capacity. However, more than 300% volume variation of SnO2 during the charge/discharge process results in dramatic degradation of electrochemical performance and thus poor cyclic stability, which has hindered its application in LIBs. Here, a new strategy is proposed to suppress this volume change via anchoring mesoporous SnO2 on robust polypyrrole nanotubes (PPy NTs) to fabricate nanoarchitectured SnO2 composite. Benefiting from this nanoarchitecture design, the anode presents outstanding rate performance with a reversible specific capacity of about 770 mA h g(-1) at 2000 mA g(-1) and remarkable cyclability accompanied by a high specific capacity of about 790 mA h g(-1) at 200 mA g(-1) after 200 cycles.

Interface effect on the electropolymerized polypyrrole films with hollow micro/nanohorn arrays.

Polypyrrole (PPy) films with hollow micro/nanohorn arrays were controllably synthesized in p-toluenesulfonate aqueous solutions by template-free electrochemical methods. The micelles which consist of pyrrole monomers and the surfactants provided the soft templates during the polymerization process. The polymerization potential and pH value of the solutions cooperatively influenced the shape of the micelles at the substrate/electrolyte interface and further controlled the morphologies of PPy films. PPy grew along the soft templates during the high potential periods of a pulse potentiostatic (PPS) method, while the pH value and the low potential were varied to modulate the shape of the soft templates. It has been shown to be most appropriate to fabricate hollow micro/nanohorn PPy films with the highest electrical conductivity (190 S cm(-1)) via PPS at pH ∼1.5. A diagram was also introduced in order to illustrate the polymerization potential and pH value dependence of nanohorn PPy morphologies. This work proposed a potential method to the in situ growth of conducting polymers with high conductivity and high specific surface area.

Study on capacitance evolving mechanism of polypyrrole during prolonged cycling.

A simple model on the evolution mechanism of PPy capacitance during prolonged cycling offers a reasonably description on the rapid increase and decay of PPy capacitance in 1 M 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/propylene carbonate (EtMeImBF4/PC). The capacitance of PPy films reached a very high specific capacitance of 420 F·g(-1) after 15 cycles when they worked in 1 M MeEt3ImBF4/PC. However, the capacitance rapidly decreased to 5% after only 400 cycles. The electronic conductivity and protonation level on the nitrogen site of PPy films rapidly decreased with the increase of cyclic number. The salt of EtMeImBF4 was monitored in PPy matrix by FTIR spectra after 400 cycles. The EQCM results indicated that a lot of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cations (EtMeIm(+)) were inserted during reduction process and retained in PPy matrix. The detained EtMeIm(+) cations bonded with doped p-toluenesulfonate anions (PTS(-)) in PPy matrix or BF4(-) anions from electrolyte and formed salts. Small amount of salts in PPy matrix can open more channels of ion insertion and resulted in a very high capacitance after 15 cycles. The continuous combination of detained EtMeIm(+) cations with doping anions of PTS(-) resulted in the rapid decrease of PPy protonation level on the nitrogen site and formation of compensate semiconductor state in PPy matrix. This should be responsible for the rapid decay of PPy conductivity and capacitance. The continuous accumulation of salts resulted in the great increase of PPy internal resistance.

Polypyrrole composites with carbon materials for supercapacitors

Supercapacitors fill the gap between batteries and conventional solid state and electrolytic capacitors. Polypyrrole (PPy) is a very important electrode material for supercapacitors. However, the repeated volume changes usually damage PPy structure and result in PPy poor stability during a long-term charging/discharging process. PPy/carbon material composites were prepared to overcome the defects of pure PPy electrodes, and significant enhancement for the specific capacitance, charging/discharging rate and electrodes stability was demonstrated thereafter. The development of composite electrodes based on PPy and carbon materials is reviewed in this paper.