Surfactant intercalated polypyrrole-exfoliated graphene oxide hybrid thin film symmetric supercapacitor

Surfactant intercalated polypyrrole-exfoliated graphene oxide hybrid thin films were successfully electrodeposited as binder-free electrodes for supercapacitors. The superior electrochemical activity was achieved by tuning the specified morphology of the composite films through varying the concentration of the anionic surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) during electrochemical deposition. Here, the surfactant acted as a stabilizing agent and a supporting electrolyte to achieve a uniform coating. Although all the composite films exhibited remarkable improvement in electrochemical performance upon sulfonation, the best performance was observed for 0.025 M SLS-derived electrodes. The fabricated symmetric supercapacitor (SC) achieved an outstanding specific capacitance of 494 F g −1 at 1 A g −1 , with a specific energy of 17.1 W h kg −1 at 325 W kg −1 specific power and maintained 99% coulombic efficiency over 5000 GCD. Graphical abstract