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Nano Research 2014, 7(2): 209-218 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0388-5
Research Article | Issue | Published: 14 December 2013

Carbon nanotube–polypyrrole core–shell sponge and its application as highly compressible supercapacitor electrode

Show Author's Information Peixu Li1,  Enzheng Shi2,  Yanbing Yang3,  Yuanyuan Shang2,  Qingyu Peng2,  Shiting Wu2,  Jinquan Wei4,  Kunlin Wang4,  Hongwei Zhu4,  Quan Yuan3,  Anyuan Cao2( ),  Dehai Wu1( )
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua UniversityBeijing 100084 China
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking UniversityBeijing 100871 China
Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education) College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430072 China
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua UniversityBeijing 100084 China
Keywords:
supercapacitor, polypyrrole, carbon nanotube sponge, core–shell configuration, compressible electrode
Cite this article:
Li P, Shi E, Yang Y, et al. Carbon nanotube–polypyrrole core–shell sponge and its application as highly compressible supercapacitor electrode. Nano Research, 2014, 7(2): 209-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0388-5
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

A carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge contains a three-dimensional conductive nanotube network, and can be used as a porous electrode for various energy devices. We present here a rational strategy to fabricate a unique CNT@polypyrrole (PPy) core–shell sponge, and demonstrate its application as a highly compressible supercapacitor electrode with high performance. A PPy layer with optimal thickness was coated uniformly on individual CNTs and inter-CNT contact points by electrochemical deposition and crosslinking of pyrrole monomers, resulting in a core–shell configuration. The PPy coating significantly improves specific capacitance of the CNT sponge to above 300 F/g, and simultaneously reinforces the porous structure to achieve better strength and fully elastic structural recovery after compression. The CNT@PPy sponge can sustain 1, 000 compression cycles at a strain of 50% while maintaining a stable capacitance (> 90% of initial value). Our CNT@PPy core–shell sponges with a highly porous network structure may serve as compressible, robust electrodes for supercapacitors and many other energy devices.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Carbon nanotube–polypyrrole core–shell sponge and its application as highly compressible supercapacitor electrode

Show Author's information Peixu Li1, Enzheng Shi2, Yanbing Yang3, Yuanyuan Shang2, Qingyu Peng2, Shiting Wu2, Jinquan Wei4, Kunlin Wang4, Hongwei Zhu4, Quan Yuan3, Anyuan Cao2( ), Dehai Wu1( )
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua UniversityBeijing 100084 China
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking UniversityBeijing 100871 China
Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education) College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430072 China
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua UniversityBeijing 100084 China

Abstract

A carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge contains a three-dimensional conductive nanotube network, and can be used as a porous electrode for various energy devices. We present here a rational strategy to fabricate a unique CNT@polypyrrole (PPy) core–shell sponge, and demonstrate its application as a highly compressible supercapacitor electrode with high performance. A PPy layer with optimal thickness was coated uniformly on individual CNTs and inter-CNT contact points by electrochemical deposition and crosslinking of pyrrole monomers, resulting in a core–shell configuration. The PPy coating significantly improves specific capacitance of the CNT sponge to above 300 F/g, and simultaneously reinforces the porous structure to achieve better strength and fully elastic structural recovery after compression. The CNT@PPy sponge can sustain 1, 000 compression cycles at a strain of 50% while maintaining a stable capacitance (> 90% of initial value). Our CNT@PPy core–shell sponges with a highly porous network structure may serve as compressible, robust electrodes for supercapacitors and many other energy devices.

Keywords: supercapacitor, polypyrrole, carbon nanotube sponge, core–shell configuration, compressible electrode

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 19 October 2013
Revised: 08 November 2013
Accepted: 12 November 2013
Published: 14 December 2013
Issue date: February 2014

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 91127004) and the Beijing City Science and Technology Program (No. Z121100001312005).

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