Azaisoindigo and triphenylamine-based hybrid material: design, carbon nanotube decoration, and supercapacitor applications using a PA-NI gel electrolyte

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.6c00359

Supercapacitors are widely regarded as highly promising energy-storage devices owing to their high capacitance, excellent power density, and outstanding long-term cycling stability. Moreover, flexible and binder-free nanomaterials play a crucial role in the development of advanced supercapacitor devices and systems. Herein, we report AIG-TPA2-SWCNT, a donor–acceptor–donor hybrid that integrates azaisoindigo (AIG) and triphenylamine (TPA) with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The AIG-TPA2 material was hybridized with SWCNTs for the first time, and the resulting AIG-TPA2-SWCNT hybrid was employed as a flexible, free-standing supercapacitor electrode using a polyphosphoric acid (PA) and nonionic surfactant (NI)-based gel electrolyte. The hybrid electrode demonstrated remarkable supercapacitor performance and energy-storage properties with an excellent power density of 5000 W kg−1, a maximum energy density of 3.38 Wh kg−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and a maximum specific capacitance of 112 F g−1 at 0.1 mV s−1. Regarding the galvanostatic charge−discharge (GCD) results, 10,000-cycle stability was achieved with a coulombic efficiency about 100%. These findings highlight the potential of AIG-TPA2 and SWCNT-based hybrid materials as flexible and bendable electrodes for energy storage.