Supercapacitors based on polyelectrolyte/ferrocenyl-surfactant complexes with high rate capability

Abstract

In this paper, a composite of the Polyelectrolyte/Ferrocenyl-Surfactant Complexes (PFSC) coated on carbon paper (CP) was applied as an electrode material for supercapacitors. The as-prepared composite possessed a specific capacitance as high as 214 F g⁻¹ calculated from discharge curve with a current density of 0.8 A g⁻¹ and this observation was deemed to be because of its ferrocenyl moieties. Furthermore, the specific capacitances calculated from cyclic voltammograms were 145 and 103 F g⁻¹ at the potential scan rates of 20 and 50 mV s⁻¹, which kept at 77.6% and 55.4% of the corresponding value at 10 mV s⁻¹ (187 F g⁻¹). This suggested that the composite possessed a good rate capability as a novel redox active electrode material for pseudo-capacitors. In short, for the first time the composite PFSC/CP was reported as a promising electrode material for efficient supercapacitors.