Improving capacitance performance of attapulgite/polypyrrole composites by introducing rhodamine B

The rhodamine B-attapulgite/polypyrrole (RhB-ATP/PPy) composites have been prepared by the in situ chemical oxidative polymerization method based on the self-assembly of pyrrole on the surface of the rhodamine B modified ATP (RhB-ATP). The morphologies of the RhB-ATP/PPy composites prepared with different feeding ratio of pyrrole and the RhB-ATP were compared with transmission electron microscope (TEM) technique. The electrochemical behaviors of the RhB-ATP/PPy composites were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and galvanostatic charge-discharge. The results indicated that RhB did effectively improve the electrochemical performance and cycling stability of the RhB-ATP/PPy composite electrode, although RhB showed no obvious effect on the morphology of the nanocomposites. It was attributed to the fact that RhB and ATP provided a more convenient pathway to the charge carrier and RhB made the combination of the ATP and PPy much stronger. The maximum discharge capacity of the composites electrode achieved 587 F g^-1 and kept 76% of its original specific capacitance after 500 cycles.