Direct Growth of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) on Carbon Cloth for Supercapacitor

Environmentally friendly high-power energy sources are demanded increasingly nowadays due to several factors, such as global warming and climate changes, as well as the ever-growing number of portable devices and the introduction of electric vehicles. Supercapacitors as a complementary device are a kind of good candidate for energy storage due to their high power performance, long cycle life and low maintenance cost. As a kind of supercapacitor, conductive polymer such as poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene) has excellent properties. In this paper, through electrochemical oxidation method, 3,4ethylenedioxythiophene was polymerized on the surface of flexible carbon cloth, which can be directly used as electrode for supercapacitor. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge techniques. The electrochemical measurements showed such an electrode had a wide working potential window, a specific capacitance of 208.5 F g-1 and excellent cycle stability at a discharge current density of 1 A g-1. The bendable feature of the PEDOT/CC electrodes have the potential application for flexible highpower energy storage device. KeywordsPEDOT; carbon cloth; supercapacitor; electrode material; electrochemical oxidation