Fabrication of Co3O4/polyaniline-based carbon electrode for high-performance supercapacitor

Novel hierarchical porous Co3O4/polyaniline-based carbon has been successfully designed and synthesized by a simple drop coating/carbonization method for supercapacitor electrodes. The Co3O4/polyaniline-based carbon electrodes exhibit improved conductivity, large specific surface area (1688.2 m2 g−1), high specific capacitance (2122.5 F g−1, 0.5 A g−1), along with high rate capability (73.2% after increasing the current densities 40-fold) and stable energy-storage performance (specific capacitance retention of 95.3% after 10,000 cycles). The hierarchical porous structure can facilitate the transportation of electrolyte ions, and buffer the volume changes during charge/discharge process. The results demonstrate the potential of the electrodes for the future generation supercapacitors.