Enhancement of polypyrrole nanotubes stability by gold nanoparticles for the construction of flexible solid-state supercapacitors

Flexible solid-state supercapacitors (FSSCs) have becoming of great interest due to the increasing energy demand of the modern world. Many studies are focusing on the development of different materials for super capacitor electrodes, however, the combination of high specific capacitance, high stability and low cost in a single material is still a challenge. Herein, we report the fabrication of a FSSC based on a hybrid material of polypyrrole nanotubes (PPy-NTs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The materials were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopies and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and they were also electrochemically characterized in aqueous 1 mol L-1 H2SO4 solution. The FSSC was assembled using a poly(vinyl alcohol) and sodium alginate gel electrolyte and the results showed a high specific capacitance, high stability over 2000 galvanostatic charge/discharge cycles (88%) and good electrochemical performance under bending. The results indicate the great potential to use PPy-NTs/AuNPs hybrid material in flexible all-solid-state symmetric devices.