One-step electrodeposited 3D-ternary composite of zirconia nanoparticles, rGO and polypyrrole with enhanced supercapacitor performance

Supercapacitor electrodes consisting of conjugated polymers (CP), metal oxides and graphene nanosheets have been explored as a strategy to achieve high specific capacitance, power, energy density, and stability. In this work, we synthesized a 3D structure composed of zirconia oxide nanoparticles (ZrO2), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and polypyrrole (PPy), using a simple and easily scalable one-step chronopotentiometry method. Detailed characterization revealed that the addition of rGO and ZrO2 modified the morphology of the electrode material. The capacitance of the resulting architecture improved by up to a 100%. The ternary composite featured high stability, with an increase of 5% in capacitance after a thousand cycles. DFT and MD simulations were carried out in order to provide further insight on the role of zirconia.