Nano Carbon Doped Polyacrylamide Gel Electrolytes for High Performance Supercapacitors

Abstract

Novel polyacrylamide gel electrolytes (PGEs) doped with nano carbons with enhanced electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical properties are presented. Carboxylated carbon nanotubes (fCNTs), graphene oxide sheets (GO), and the hybrid of fCNT/GO were embedded in the PGEs to serve as supercapacitor (SC) electrolytes. Thermal stability of the unmodified PGE increased with the addition of the nano carbons which led to lower capacitance degradation and longer cycling life of the SCs. The fCNT/GO-PGE showed the best thermal stability, which was 50% higher than original PGE. Viscoelastic properties of PGEs were also improved with the incorporation of GO and fCNT/GO. Oxygen-containing functional groups in GO and fCNT/GO hydrogen bonded with the polymer chains and improved the elasticity of PGEs. The fCNT-PGE demonstrated a slightly lower viscous strain uninform distribution of CNTs in the polymer matrix and the defects formed within. Furthermore, ion diffusion between GO layers was enhanced in fCNT/GO-PGE because fCNT decreased the aggregation of GO sheets and improved the ion channels, increasing the gel ionic conductivity from 41 to 132 mS cm−1. Finally, MnO2-based supercapacitors using PGE, fCNT-PGE, GO-PGE, and fCNT/GO-PGE electrolytes were fabricated with the electrode-specific capacitance measured to be 39.5, 65.5, 77.6, and 83.3 F·g−1, respectively. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of nano carbons as dopants in polymer gel electrolytes for property enhancements.

Characterization of Carbon Nanomaterials Dispersions: Can Metal Decoration of MWCNTs Improve Their Physicochemical Properties?

“…CNTs dispersions can be used for many applications, such as lubricants [ 40 , 41 , 42 ], polymer nanocomposites [ 43 ], and more recently it has been drawing the attention of the scientific community for the development of next-generation porous solid-state electrolytes [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ] and as electrode materials [ 48 ].…”

Molecular Dynamics-Assisted Design of High Temperature-Resistant Polyacrylamide/Poloxamer Interpenetrating Network Hydrogels

“…Except for APAM/poloxamer (Figure S7), the G' values of the other blends were consistently greater than G" over the entire range, indicating the elastic properties of the hydrogels [35]. In addition, it can also be found that the G' value of NPAM/poloxamer (135 Pa) was higher than that of CPAM/poloxamer (98 Pa), which means higher intensity [36,37]. The effect of temperature on the viscosity of the three composite systems was also investigated.…”

Ag(e)ing and Degradation of Supercapacitors: Causes, Mechanisms, Models and Countermeasures

“…The addition of nanocarbon material resulted in improved thermal stability and subsequently slower ageing of a polyacrylamide gel electrolyte [ 276 ].…”