Performance of an all polymer supercapacitor

Abstract

Demand for power sources is getting increased day by day due to high usage of electronic equipment. Most widely used power sources are the batteries. However, when energy storage is considered, capacitors are in the forefront compared to batteries. An ultracapacitor, also called a supercapacitor, is an electrical component capable of holding hundreds of times more electrical charge quantity than a standard capacitor. This characteristic makes supercapacitor useful in devices that require relatively little current and low voltage. In some situations, a supercapacitor can take the place of a rechargeable low-voltage electrochemical battery. Supercapacitors are most commonly used in backup power applications because of their infinite lifespan. Due to the above reasons, work on supercapacitors is of high interest among the researchers. However, work on all polymer supercapacitors is less published. In the present study, performance of an all polymer supercapacitor is reported. Conducting polymer, Polypyrrole (PPy) was used as electrodes while a gel polymerelectrolyte (GPE) based on Polyvinylidene fluoride served as the electrolyte. Fabrication of the supercapacitor was done in the array of PPy : GPE : PPy. The capacitor was characterized using cyclic voltammetry tests, continuous galvanostatic charge-discharge tests and Impedance spectroscopy. Results showed that the fabricated supercapacitor was rather stable even though the obtainable capacity value was not very high.