Low cost paper based flexible energy storage device using conducting polymer nanocomposite

Here, simple approach is demonstrated for fabrication of paper based flexible symmetrical supercapacitor an energy saving device with composite functional material of nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) and polypyrrole (PPy). For this, Ni@PPy nanocomposite is synthesized through two-step process involving the growth of Ni NPs followed by pyrrole polymerization on the paper substrate. The paper fabricated with Ni@PPy showed the electrical conductivity of 105 Scm-1. The paper based flexible supercapacitor device configured with Ni@PPy/electrolyte/Ni@PPy is evaluated for electrochemical performance which showed a good specific capacitance of 544 Fg-1 at 1 Ag-1. The better specific energy of 48 Whkg-1, specific power of 400 Wkg-1, good cycling stability (68.3% capacitance retention after 3000 cycles at 5 Ag-1) are obtained for paper based flexible supercapacitor compared to other reported polymer based nanocomposite materials. The obtained results suggested that the fabricated paper-based supercapacitor is low cost, sustainable, high efficient, portable and flexible for variety of electronic applications.