Fabrication of Polypyrrole Hollow Nanospheres by Hard-Template Method for Supercapacitor Electrode Material
Renzhou Hong,
Xijun Zhao,
Rongyu Lu,
Meng You,
Xiaofang Chen,
Xiaoming Yang
Affiliations
Renzhou Hong
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Xijun Zhao
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Rongyu Lu
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Meng You
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Xiaofang Chen
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Xiaoming Yang
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Conducting polymers like polypyrrole, polyaniline, and polythiophene with nanostructures offers several advantages, such as high conductivity, a conjugated structure, and a large surface area, making them highly desirable for energy storage applications. However, the direct synthesis of conducting polymers with nanostructures poses a challenge. In this study, we employed a hard template method to fabricate polystyrene@polypyrrole (PS@PPy) core–shell nanoparticles. It is important to note that PS itself is a nonconductive material that hinders electron and ion transport, compromising the desired electrochemical properties. To overcome this limitation, the PS cores were removed using organic solvents to create hollow PPy nanospheres. We investigated six different organic solvents (cyclohexane, toluene, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, acetone, and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)) for etching the PS cores. The resulting hollow PPy nanospheres showed various nanostructures, including intact, hollow, buckling, and collapsed structures, depending on the thickness of the PPy shell and the organic solvent used. PPy nanospheres synthesized with DMF demonstrated superior electrochemical properties compared to those prepared with other solvents, attributed to their highly effective PS removal efficiency, increased specific surface area, and improved charge transport efficiency. The specific capacitances of PPy nanospheres treated with DMF were as high as 350 F/g at 1 A/g. And the corresponding symmetric supercapacitor demonstrated a maximum energy density of 40 Wh/kg at a power density of 490 W/kg. These findings provide new insights into the synthesis method and energy storage mechanisms of PPy nanoparticles.
