Microwave energy assisted carbonization of nanostructured conducting polymers for their potential use in energy storage applications

Three well-established one-step approaches, namely, conducting polymer (CP) nanofiber (NF) synthesis by NF seeding, CP nanoclip (NC) synthesis by oxidative template, and microwave (MW) energy-assisted carbonization were systematically combined to prepare carbonaceous nanostructures from CPs, with great potential as the active material for energy storage purposes. Polypyrrole (PPy), as one of the most well-known and commonly studied members of the CP family was prepared in both NF and NC forms, as the sacrificial carbonization precursor, for different property comparison purposes. Due to conducting polymers’ high electron mobility and easily exciting nature under MW irradiation, both PPy NF and NC samples had vigorously interacted with MWs. The as-obtained carbonaceous samples from such interactions exhibited high thermal stabilities, competitive specific capacitance values and long-term stable electrochemical cyclic performances, which are crucial for the active materials used in energy storage applications. Thus, it is believed that, this well-established and well-studied process combination will dominate the large-scale manufacturing of the carbon-based, active energy storage materials from CPs.