Nano MnO_x encapsulated pyrrole-carbazole copolymer and polyvinyl chloride/carbon-coated flexible electrodes for solid-state supercapacitor cell

Pyrrole (Py) and carbazole (Cz) monomers are polymerized simultaneously in the presence of MnO_x nanoparticles synthesized chemically on a stainless steel mesh (SSM) electrode by the pulse galvanostatic method in an acetonitrile medium. The resulting p(Py-co-Cz)/MnO_x composite is characterized by cyclic voltammetry EIS, GCD XPS, XRD, FESEM, BET, and TEM. Since the current is applied for short periods in the presence of both monomers, p(Py-co-Cz) copolymer chains occur in short lengths, suitable for supercapacitor electrodes. The copolymer has higher C_m and lower R_ct values as well as higher porosity that improves ion transport, thus greater stability than the homopolymers. It may be due to tricyclic Cz segments located between Py segments in the chains, which inhibit degradation. During the synthesis, nano-sized MnO_x is also encapsulated homogeneously into the p(Py-co-Cz) coating, where 5 % is the weight percentage of manganese. Since the composite combines the advantages of the conductive polymer and metal oxide, it has the lowest R_ct and highest C_m values among the coatings here. The p(Py-co-Cz)/MnO_x coating with 10 mg cm⁻² exhibits a high specific capacitance of 352 F g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ as well as flexibility, as its specific capacitance remains nearly stable (99 %) up to a bending angle of 90°. The cathode prepared from polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/activated carbon/carbon black on SSM operates within a wide voltage range of 0 to −1.5 V at 98 % cycle stability after 1000 cycles. The asymmetric cell configuration with the flexible anode and cathode electrodes provides 38 kW kg⁻¹ and 5.28 Wh kg⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ at a wide potential range of 2.1 V in PVA/Na₂SO₄ gel electrolyte, and the cycling stability was 67 % after 1000 cycles.