Electrochemical supercapacitors of PPy/GO-CoO prepared by hydrothermal method for energy storage
摘要
This study sought to improve energy storage capacities by mixing hydrothermally produced polypyrrole nanofibers (PPy-NFs) with graphene oxide (GO) and cobalt oxide (CoO) nanoparticles. PPy-NFs were doped with GO-CoO nanoparticles (NPs) in different weight ratios (20%, 40%, and 60%) to create three hybrid nanocomposites. PPy-NFs and hybrid nanocomposites were subjected to many tests to determine how their structural and electrochemical features change with increasing GO-CoO nanoparticles content, with the aim of improving capacitive performance. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed a shift in the crystal structure of CoO NPs when interacting with PPy-NFs and GO nanoparticles. The 60% graphene oxide and cobalt oxide (GO-CoO) hybrid nanocomposites showed only four CoO crystal peaks, while the 40% sample showed only two peaks. This suggests that the incorporation process disrupted the CoO crystal, turning it into a semi-crystalline or amorphous state. This change is attributed to the strong interactions among the components during fabrication, which may have optimized the distribution of the materials. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images showed an interconnected network of PPy-NFs nanofibers. More molecules attached to the surface of the manufactured PPy NFs because the GO-CoO ratio increased, modifying the hybrid nanocomposite’s nanostructure. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy confirmed characteristic functional groups of PPy and nanocomposites. The nanocomposites exhibited a notable degree of sub-capacitive activity in electrochemical performance, attributable to morphological enhancement. The GO-CoO nanocomposite at a concentration of 40% attained a specific capacitance of 102.030 F/g, exceeding that of pure polypyrrole nanofibers (PPy-NFs) (46.2 F/g) by more than twofold.