A review on effect of conducting polymers on carbon-based electrode materials for electrochemical supercapacitors

Supercapacitors, commonly referred to as electrochemical capacitors, are a significant type of energy storage devices with more energy density than capacitors, greater power density, and longer cycle life than batteries. Conventionally, the electrode material of supercapacitors is composed of metal oxides, inorganic complexes, carbon-based materials, and conducting polymers. Researchers have attempted numerous combinations of aforementioned materials to create electrode material with enhanced electrochemical properties. However, supercapacitor (SC) electrodes constructed with pure conducting polymers (CPs) have poor cycling stability, resulting in a rapid decrease in specific capacitance. To improve the electrochemical property of such materials, researchers have attempted to construct binary and ternary composites of various CPs by mixing them with carbonaceous materials and metal oxides. In this review, SC electrode materials prepared from CPs, such as polyaniline (PANI), polythiophene (PTh), polypyrrole (PPy) and their composites with carbonaceous materials such as activated carbon (AC), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), graphene and carbon quantum dots have been discussed.