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Skeleton and skin strategy improves supercapacitor

31 Aug 2012
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The SWCNT/PANI hybrid film

The SWCNT/PANI hybrid film

Supercapacitors based on carbon nanotubes and conducting polymers have higher energy densities (amount of energy stored) than pure carbon nanotube-based ones, but they suffer from lower power densities (amount of power). This is because the polymer layers overlap, leading to poor electrical conductivity. Now, scientists from China, Australia and Singapore have changed the design to increase the power density. The ultrathin supercapacitor could have potential uses in lightweight and flexible storage devices for portable electronic devices.

Weiya Zhou from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues, used what they call a skeleton/skin strategy to make the improvement. The carbon nanotubes (single-walled carbon nanotubes – SWCNTs) are the skeleton and the polymer layers (polyaniline – PANI) are the skin. The skeleton/skin structure ensures that the films are better conductors than conventional SWCNT/PANI electrodes.

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Link to journal article
A “skeleton/skin” strategy for preparing ultrathin free-standing single-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline films for high performance supercapacitor electrodes
Z Niu et al
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22042c

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