  Citation: Ullah, R.; Khan, N.; Khattak, R.; Khan, M.; Khan, M.S.; Ali, O.M. Preparation of Electrochemical Supercapacitor Based on Polypyrrole/Gum Arabic Composites. Polymers 2022, 14, 242. https://doi.org/10.3390/ polym14020242 Academic Editor: Jung-Chang Wang Received: 7 December 2021 Accepted: 4 January 2022 Published: 7 January 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). polymers Article Preparation of Electrochemical Supercapacitor Based on Polypyrrole/Gum Arabic Composites Rizwan Ullah 1, *, Nadia Khan 1 , Rozina Khattak 2, * , Mehtab Khan 1 , Muhammad Sufaid Khan 3 and Omar M. Ali 4 1 National Center of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan; Khannadia@uop.edu.pk (N.K.); mehtabk324@uop.edu.pk (M.K.) 2 Department of Chemistry, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar 25000, Pakistan 3 Department of Chemistry, University of Malakand, Chakdara 18800, Pakistan; sufaidkhan1984@uom.edu.pk 4 Department of Chemistry, Turabah University College, Turabah Branch, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia; om.ali@tu.edu.sa * Correspondence: drrizwan@uop.edu.pk (R.U.); rznkhattak@sbbwu.edu.pk (R.K.) Abstract: The current research focused on the super capacitive behavior of organic conducting polymer, i.e., polypyrrole (PPy) and its composites with gum arabic (GA) prepared via inverse emulsion polymerization. The synthesized composites material was analyzed by different analytical techniques, such as UV-visible, FTIR, TGA, XRD, and SEM. The UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy clearly show the successful insertion of GA into PPy matrix. The TGA analysis shows high thermal stability for composites than pure PPy. The XRD and SEM analysis show the crystalline and amorphous structures and overall morphology of the composites is more compact and mesoporous as compared to the pure PPy. The electrochemical properties of modified solid state supercapacitors established on pure polypyrrole (PPy), polypyrrole/gum arabic (PPy/GA) based composites were investigated through cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD). The specific capacitance of the PPy modified gold electrode is impressive (~168 F/g). The specific capacitance of PPy/GA 1 electrode has been increased to 368 F/g with a high energy density and power density (~73 Wh/kg), and (~599 W/kg) respectively. Keywords: polypyrrole; gum arabic; supercapacitors; EIS; GCD 1. Introduction In the modern era, an integral part of human life is smart technology. Accordingly, advanced technologies are always searching for smart and well-fabricated materials to satisfy the growing demand [1–3]. The development of novel materials with improved electrochemical performance is required to address the critical issue of pollution. There is a growing need for sustainable and renewable energy storage solutions in hybrid auto- mobiles and portable electronic devices [4], necessitating the development of innovative materials with better electrochemical capabilities, such as electrochemical capacitors or supercapacitors [5]. A supercapacitor is a type of energy storage system that combines both battery and conventional capacitor properties [6,7]. Electrochemical capacitors, or supercapacitors, have been extensively used in high-power energy storage materials. As such, supercapacitors are one of the most promising candidates among the various systems that lead the state-of-the-art electrical energy storage systems due to their environmental friendliness, sustainable cycle stability, low cost [8], excellent cycling life [9], high power density, and fast charging/discharging rate [5,10]. Supercapacitors are classified as electro- chemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) or pseudosupercapacitors based on their charge storage mechanism [11,12]. The electrostatic separation of ionic and electronic charges at the electrode and electrolyte interfaces provides energy storage in EDLCs, and the efficiency of such devices is dictated by the surface area involved in the charge accumulation process Polymers 2022, 14, 242. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14020242 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers