Novel conducting polymer-carbon nanotube (CNT) hierarchical composited structure was fabricated by a facile microwave technique. By simply mixing the nanostructured polypyrrole nanofiber (PPy-NF) with ferrocene catalyst, the CNT forest can be generated on PPy NF substrate after a short microwave treatment, typically 15 s. The CNTs are following a 3D growing mode on the NFs and filling out the void spaces between the PPy NF. It also creates bridges and junctions along the composited structure; which is of significance for the enhanced charge transportation on the composite interfaces. However, enhanced supercapacitive properties are expected for this novel composited structure as a synergistic cooperation effect between the pseudo capacitance of PPy and EDLC of CNT would eventually lead to a distinct supercapacitive behavior which surpasses both the individual components. Furthermore, this rapid and cost-effective microwave method may also provide a viable solution for the industrial production of high performance nanostructured materials.

Rapid microwave fabrication of hierarchical conducting polymer-carbon nanotube structures for energy storage applications

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.