Polypyrrole decorated cobalt carbonate hydroxide on carbon cloth for high performance flexible supercapacitor electrodes

Highlights: • Polypyrrole decorated cobalt carbonate hydroxide were prepared on carbon cloth. • The PPy@CoCH/CC nanocomposites exhibited high specific capacitance and excellent cycle performance. • A flexible all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor using the PPy@CoCH/CC was demonstrated. -- Abstract: Polypyrrole decorated cobalt carbonate hydroxide on carbon cloth (PPy@CoCH/CC) has been synthesized by a simple and cost-effective hydrothermal method. The prepared PPy@CoCH/CC exhibits unique 3D hierarchical nanostructure, showing uniform decoration of PPy nanoparticles on CoCH nanosheets. The PPy@CoCH/CC composites exhibit enhanced electrochemical performances due to the enhanced electrical conductivity, pseudocapcitive behavior, and efficient ion transport of PPy. Specifically, The PPy@CoCH/CC composites show high specific capacitance of 1217 F·g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A·g⁻¹ and a good cycling performance of 89% capacity retention after 8000 cycles. In addition, a symmetric supercapacitor is fabricated using the PPy@CoCH/CC composites as both positive and negative electrode. The prepared symmetric supercapacitors deliver a high energy density of 47.36 Wh·kg⁻¹ at a power density of 1600 W·kg⁻¹.