Phytic acid-doped poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) copolymers for supercapacitor electrodes applications

Phytic acid-doped copolymers poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) have been synthesized by chemical polymerization for applications of supercapacitors. The results indicate that poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) copolymer delivered a high specific capacitance (639 F g−1) and 62.3% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles at 3 A g−1 in 1 M H2SO4. The good cycle stability was due to increased structural stability by the formation of cross-link between poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) backbones doped by phytic acid. The high capacitance may result from the formation of large specific surface area and effective conducting paths in the copolymer. A symmetrical supercapacitor device based on this copolymer was designed and provided a high energy density (12.2 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 500 W kg−1). Such results indicate that poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) might be a feasible candidate for electrocapacitive material of supercapacitors and this strategy can be extended to fabricate other conducting polymers for supercapacitor applications.