Synthesis and Electrochemical Analysis of Algae Cellulose-Polypyrrole-Graphene Nanocomposite for Supercapacitor Electrode.

A novel nanocomposite has been developed using extracted cellulose from marine algae coated with conductive polypyrrole and graphene nanoplateletes. The nanocomposite fabricated via in situ polymerization was used as an electrode for a supercapacitor device. The nanocomposite material has been electrochemically characterized using cyclic voltammetry to test its potential to super-capacitive behavior. The specific capacitance of polypyrrole-graphene-cellulose nanocomposite as calculated from cyclic voltammetry curve is 91.5 Fg-1 at the scan rate 50 mV s-1. Transmission electron microscope images show the polymerized polypyrrole -graphene coated cellulosic nanofibers. Scanning electron microscope images reveal an interesting "necklace" like beaded morphology on the cellulose fibers. It is observed that the necklace like structure start to disintegrate with the increase in graphene concentration. The open circuit voltage of the device with polypyrrole-graphene-cellulose electrode was found to be around 225 mV and that of the polypyrrole-cellulose device is only 53 mV without graphene. The results suggest marked improvement in the performance of the nanocomposite supercapacitor device upon graphene inclusion.