Electrochemical Self-Assembly of a 3D Interpenetrating Porous Network PEDOT-PEG-WS₂ Nanocomposite for High-Efficient Energy Storage

Like interchange bridges used in traffic, 3D interpenetrating porous network (3D IPN) nano-/micromaterials are of great significance in the field of energy storage. Here, we developed a 3D IPN poly(3,4-ethyleenedioxythiophene)-poly(ethylene glycol)-WS₂ (PEDOT-PEG-WS₂) nanocomposite through the electrochemical self-assembly of EDOT and WS₂ nanosheets with the assistance of PEG. The scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results explicitly demonstrated the formation of the 3D IPN PEDOT-PEG-WS₂ nanocomposite. The electrochemical results indicated that the PEDOT-PEG-WS₂ nanocomposite had high specific capacitance of 236.5 mF cm–² at 5 mV s–¹, which was about 3.1 times higher than that for PEDOT-PEG (77.5 mF cm–²). The symmetric supercapacitors based on PEDOT-PEG-WS₂ presented a high specific energy of 78 W h m–² at 900 W m–² and high cycling stability of 91% after 5000 cycles. It was proposed that the enhanced performances were attributed to the unique 3D IPN structures and the synergistic effect between WS₂ and PEDOT, which make it a promising candidate as a high-efficient electrode in electrochemical energy storage devices.