Novel Acid-Assisted Polymerization Technique for the Synthesis of Polyaniline Films at Room Temperature on Glassy Carbon for Supercapacitor Applications

This study presents polyaniline (PANI) synthesis and characterization by using a novel acid-assisted polymerization technique. Two PANI suspensions with different ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) concentrations were synthesized at room temperature; i.e., the ratio of aniline to APS was 10:1 for PANI1 and 5:1 for PANI2. SEM measurements revealed distinct structures: a porous nanofibrillar structure for PANI1 and a densely packed structure for PANI2. The electrochemical performance of the fabricated PANI/glassy carbon (GC) electrodes was evaluated using a three-electrode cell configuration at scan rates of 10 and 30 mV/s. The PANI1/GC heterostructure exhibited a specific capacitance of 160 F/g, while this value increased to 407 F/g for the PANI2/GC. This research contributes not only to the understanding of PANI synthesis at room temperature but also to its potential applications in electrochemical energy storage devices.