Electrochemical preparation and electrochemical behavior of polypyrrole/carbon nanotube composite films

Abstract

Polypyrrole/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) composite films were electrochemically deposited in the presence of an ionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), acting as both supporting electrolyte and dispersant. The effects of the surfactant and the MWNT concentrations on the structure of the resulting composite films were investigated. The electrochemical behavior of the resulting polypyrrole/MWNT composite film was investigated as well by cyclic voltammogram. The effect of the additional alternating electric field applied during the constant direct potential electrochemical deposition on the morphology and electrochemical behavior of the resulting composite film was also investigated in this study.

Keywords

carbon nanotubes / conducting polymers / electrochemical polymerization / electrochemical capacitors / nanocomposites / surfactant

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC GR/T17953/01) and by the Excellent Young Scholars Research Fund of Beijing Institute of Technology (2008Y0411). Many thanks to Dr. Wei-zhong QIAN (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China) for the supply of pristine MWNTs.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg