Synergistic Enhancement of Supercapacitor Performance: Vanadium-Substituted Phosphotungstic and Molybdic Acid Combined with Polypyrrole Using Pyridinium and Ammonium Ionic Containing Organic Cation Linkers with Improved Conductivity

Abstract

High-performance energy-storage devices have emerged as a favored choice owing to their remarkable efficiency, sustainability, and environmental friendliness. Nowadays, polyoxometalate (POM)-based supercapacitor (SC) electrode materials have gained much attention. Herein, a few new POMs and ionic liquid (IL) composites incorporated into conducting polymer as electrode materials for SC applications are reported. The H₆[PV₃Mo₉O₄₀]⋅34H₂O (PV₃Mo₉) and H₆[PV₃W₉O₄₀].34H₂O (PV₃W₉) POMs are treated with tetrabutylammonium chloride and 1-butyl-4-methyl pyridinium chloride (BMP) and finally combined with polypyrrole (PPy) for the SC studies. An extensive array of analytical techniques is employed to delve into the interplay between the constituents within the composite materials, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H and ¹³C), Field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray stpectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area. The combined application of these techniques enables us to understand the interaction dynamics within composite materials comprehensively. POM–ILs combination improves the solubility issues of POMs, and doping of PPy enhances the electrochemical performances of the materials. The PV₃W₉–BMP–PPy symmetric SC cell shows a specific capacitance of 294.79 F g⁻¹ and an energy density of 28.89 Wh kg⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ current density in 0.25 M H₂SO₄ medium followed by an excellent cycle life of 78.6% after 10,000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles. The fabricated SC device is performed to light up the bulbs of red, yellow, and green light emitting diodes for 50, 30, and 28 s, respectively.