Hydrothermal synthesis of PANI nanowires for high-performance supercapacitor

Polyaniline nanowires (PANI NWs) were synthesized under different temperatures through a facile hydrothermal method and used as electrodes for high-performance pseudocapacitor. The resulting samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron micrographs, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrochemical properties of these PANI electrodes are studied by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge test, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in 0.5M H 2 SO 4 aqueous solution. The highest specific capacitance is obtained on the PANI NWs synthesized under 80°C (PANI-80) with 540.0 F g −1 at current density of 0.5 A g −1 accompanied with 82% specific capacitance retention after 1000 charge discharge cycles at 5 A g −1 current density.