Two-step preparation of carbon nanotubes/RuO₂/polyindole ternary nanocomposites and their application as high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

A ternary single-walled carbon nanotubes/RuO₂/polyindole (SWCNT/RuO₂/PIn) nanocomposite was fabricated by the oxidation polymerization of indole on the prefabricated SWCNT/RuO₂ binary nanocomposites. The nanocomposite was measured by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS and XPS, together with the electrochemical technique. The electrochemical results demonstrated that the symmetric supercapacitor used SWCNT/RuO₂/PIn as electrodes presented 95% retention rate after 10000 cycles, superior capacitive performance of 1203 F·g⁻¹ at 1 A·g⁻¹, and high energy density of 33 W·h·kg⁻¹ at 5000 W·kg⁻¹. The high capacitance performance of SWCNT/RuO₂/PIn nanocomposite was mainly ascribed to the beneficial cooperation effect among components. This indicated that the SWCNT/RuO₂/PIn nanocomposite would be a good candidate for high-performance supercapacitors.

Keywords

SWCNT/RuO₂/PIn / nanocomposite / supercapacitor

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51862011 and 51662012), the Jiangxi Outstanding Young Talent Fund Projects (20171BCB23076), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20171BAB206013), and the Young Top-Notch Talent of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (2016QNBJRC001).

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