Polyaniline–Polypyrrole Composites for Improved Energy Storage: A Critical Evaluation

The well‐known two conducting polymers, polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy), are experimented for their synergy in improving their energy storage property in the form of symmetric supercapacitors using aqueous acidic electrolyte 1 M H 2 SO 4 . The results of the energy storage study reveal that there is no synergy established nor an increase in energy storage of PANI attained. Instead, a decrease in energy storage of PANI is attained when combined with PPy, which is due to the reduction in the aspect ratio, and faradaic surface area. These results are confirmed by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface analysis and supported by the density functional theory studies. However, the addition of a minimal amount of PPy to PANI increases the rate capability of PANI significantly, with a slight decrease in its energy storage. In addition, the addition of PANI to PPy increases the energy storage of PPy to a larger extent. Therefore, it would be a negative notion to combine PANI and PPy to increase their overall energy storage. The obtained specific capacity ( Q ), specific energy ( E ), specific power ( P ), and coulombic efficiency ( η ) of PANI are 74.82 C g −1 , 12.47 Wh kg −1 , 0.6 kW kg −1 , and 93.57 %, respectively.