Fabrication and Testing Of PEDOT: PSS Wrapped WO2/Au Ternary Nanocomposite Electrodes for High Performance Flexible Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

We report on a facile strategy towards fabrication and testing of tungsten oxide and gold nanoparticles decorated PEDOT-PSS ternary nanocomposite (PEDOT: PSS-WO2-Au) as a flexible electrode material for supercapacitor applications. The morphological and structural features of the bare PEDOT-PSS and PEDOT: PSS-WO2-Au ternary nanocomposites were analyzed through scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transforms infra-red spectroscopy, whereas the thermal stability of the samples was studied through theromogravimetric analysis. The presence of Au nanoparticles significantly enhances the room temperature conductivity from 3 S cm−1 for bare PEDOT-PSS to 1552 S cm−1 for the ternary composite. This ternary composite electrode displays superior electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 462 Fg−1 in comparison to 112 Fg−1 for bare PEDOT-PSS and 359.25 Fg−1 for PEDOT-PSS: WO2 composite. The nanocomposite electrode displays capacitance retention of ∼92% after 5000 cycles of operation. The investigated ternary electrode shows excellent flexibility without capacitance fading under bending and rolling conditions.