Augmented gravimetric and volumetric capacitive performance of rare earth metal oxide (Eu2O3) incorporated polypyrrole for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

We report a facile in situ synthesis approach to incorporate rare earth metal oxide (Eu2O3) into the polypyrrole matrix and evaluate its electrochemical performance as supercapacitor electrode material. Polypyrrole, having good conductivity, higher chemical and thermal stability proves to be a very interesting electrode material. Eu2O3 further augments the capacitance of the material owing to its variable oxidation states. Also, owed to the higher stability, it provides additional support to the polymer backbone imparting extra thermal and cyclic stability to the hybrid composite so formed. The PPy/Eu2O3-32 composite exhibits a volumetric capacitance of 535 F cm− 3 at the current density of 1 A g− 1. This material also exhibits an improved energy density of 13.5 Wh L− 1 and a maximum power density of 4597.25 W L− 1. Further, a good rate capability (18% loss of specific capacitance from 1 to 10 A g− 1) and high coulombic efficiency (99.8% at 10 A g− 1) proves integration of Eu2O3 with PPy to be an effective way to eliminate the drawbacks of PPy in pristine form. © 2017