Intrinsically conductive polymer binders for electrochemical capacitor application

Abstract

Little attention has been devoted so far to the development of new binders for electrode materials. In this work, an intrinsically conductive solution-processable polymer adhesive was prepared through the combination of polyaniline (PANI) with three organic additives as a ternary dopant for both conducting and gluing properties. With an optimized composition and no heat treatment process or conductive fillers, the conductive adhesive (Q-PANI) had a conductivity of 1.1 S cm⁻¹ and 20–25% better adhesive ability than polyvinylidene fluoride insulating binder. Q-PANI showed good redox properties in an acidic electrolyte. Importantly, Q-PANI itself had a high specific capacitance of 108.7 F g⁻¹. As a result, Q-PANI as a binder was found to significantly enhance the electrode performance of pseudocapacitive nanomaterials (polypyrrole nanospheres and PANI nanofibrils) and electric double-layer capacitive nanomaterials (carbon black). Thus, it is further expected that the combination of conductive and adhesive characteristics will make Q-PANI a very promising conductive paste and coating agent for various applications other than as an electrode binder.