Supercapacitors and triboelectric nanogenerators based on electrodes of greener iron nanoparticles/carbon nanotubes composites

The development of supporting materials based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) impregnated with iron nanoparticles via a sustainable and green synthesis employing plant extract of Punica granatum L. leaves was carried out for the iron nanoparticle modification and the following impregnation into the carbon nanotubes composites (CNT-Fe) that were also coated with polypyrrole (CNT-Fe + PPy) for use as electrode for supercapacitor and triboelectric nanogenerators. The electrochemical characterization of the materials by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) assays revealed that the CNT-Fe + PPy gave rise to better performance due to the association of double-layer capacitance behavior of carbon derivative in association with the pseudocapacitance contribution of PPy resulting in an areal capacitance value 202 mF/ cm² for the overall composite. In terms of the application of electrodes in triboelectric nanogenerators, the best performance for the composite of CNT-Fe + PPy was 60 V for output voltage and power density of 6 μW/cm². The integrated system showed that the supercapacitors can be charged directly by the nanogenerator from 0 to 42 mV in 300 s. The successful green synthesis of iron nanoparticles on CNT and further PPy coating provides a feasible method for the design and synthesis of high-performance SCs and TENGs electrode materials. This work provides a systematic approach that moves the research front forward by generating data that underpins further research in self-powered electronic devices.