Fabrication of High-Performance Flexible Supercapacitor Electrodes with Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) Grown on Carbon-Deposited Polyurethane Sponge

Composite porous supercapacitor electrodes were prepared by growing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) on graphite nanoplatelet- or graphene nanoplatelet-deposited open-cell polyurethane (PU) sponges via a vapor phase polymerization (VPP) method. The resulting composite supercapacitor electrodes exhibited great capacitive performance, with PEDOT acting as both the conductive binder and the active material. The chemical composition was characterized by Raman spectroscopy and the surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV), charge-discharge (CD) tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were utilized to study the electrical performance of the composite electrodes produced in symmetrically configured supercapacitor cells. The carbon material deposited on PU substrates and the polymerization temperature of PEDOT affected significantly the PEDOT morphology and the electrical properties of the resulting composite sponges. The highest areal specific capacitance 798.2 mF cm−2 was obtained with the composite sponge fabricated by VPP of PEDOT at 110 °C with graphene nanoplatelet-deposited PU sponge substrate. The capacitance retention of this composite electrode was 101.0% after 10,000 charging–discharging cycles. The high flexibility, high areal specific capacitance, excellent long-term cycling stability and low cost make these composite sponges promising electrode materials for supercapacitors.