Nickel(II) tetra-aminophthalocyanine modified MWCNTs as potential nanocomposite materials for the development of supercapacitors

Abstract

The supercapacitive properties of nickel(II) tetraaminophthalocyanine(NiTAPc)/multi-walled carbon nanotube(MWCNT) nanocomposite films have been interrogated for the first time and found to possess a maximum specific capacitance of 981 ± 57 F g-1 (200 ± 12 mF cm-2), a maximum power density of 700 ± 1 Wkg-1, a maximum specific energy of 134 ± 8 Wh kg-1 and excellent stability of over 1500 charge-discharge continuous cycling. Impedimetric study proves that most of the stored energy of the MWCNT-NiTAPc nanocomposite can be accessible at high frequency (720 Hz). When compared to MWCNTs modified with unsubstituted nickel(II)phthalocyanine(MWCNT-NiPc) or nickel(II) tetratert- butylphthalocyanine (MWCNT-tBuNiPc), MWCNT-NiTAPc exhibited superior supercapacitive behaviour, possibly due to the influence of nitrogen-containing groups on the phthalocyanine rings.