Polypyrrole-anchored cattail biomass-derived carbon aerogels for high performance binder-free supercapacitors

In this work, biomass-derived three-dimensional carbon fiber aerogels loading polypyrrole particles were prepared by a facile and cost-effective two-step synthesis process. Firstly, carbon aerogels were prepared by pyrolysis of cellulose aerogels composed of cattail derived cellulose microfibers, then the polypyrrole anchored interconnected carbon fiber aerogels were prepared by in-situ oxidative polymerization. Binder-free supercapacitors based on the carbon aerogel/polypyrrole composites exhibit the largest areal capacitance of 419 mF cm−2 at a current density of 1 mA cm−2 with a potential range of 0.0–0.8 V in a 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution. In addition, the supercapacitor electrodes exhibit a capacitance retention of 86.4% after 3000 charge-discharge cycles, demonstrating the good cycling stability of the carbon aerogel/polypyrrole composites for supercapacitors. Such three-dimensional cattail biomass-based carbon aerogels with high capacitance and long-term stability have promising application prospects in energy storage devices for supercapacitors.