Facile electrochemical synthesis of polydopamine-incorporated graphene oxide/PEDOT hybrid thin films for pseudocapacitive behaviors

We report facile synthesis of polydopamine-functionalized graphene oxide/conducting polymer hybrids as an electrode material for supercapacitors. Bio-inspired polydopamine has catechol moieties that can undergo redox transformation, which may result in extra faradic capacitance. Polydopamine-functionalized graphene oxide hybrid materials, which were easily prepared by concomitant dopamine oxidation and slight reduction of graphene oxide, showed enhanced specific capacitance when compared to bare graphene oxide hybrid materials. Although polydopamine layers slightly decreased the conductivity of the hybrid materials, extra redox reactions appeared to contribute more to the overall specific capacitance.