Utilizing polyaniline to decorate graphene and its effect on the electrochemical properties of polyaniline/graphene electrode composite

A mature and efficient process for the preparation of polyaniline/ reduced graphene oxide (PANI/rGO) composite as supercapacitor electrode material was designed at a low cost. The composite was synthesized by in situ polymerization of monomer aniline in the suspension of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The cross-link polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers to form a framework distributed on the rGO surface was confirmed by analytical tests. The such framework structure would enable electrolytes to access the internal surface, which was beneficial to the electrochemical performance. The rGO with large surface area was help to ions diffusion and the PANI with active sites was beneficial to redox reaction. Combined the double layer capacitance of rGO and pseudocapacitance of PANI, the PANI/rGO composite exhibited higher specific capacitance and better properties than individual PANI or rGO. The maximum specific capacitance of the composite was 285.4 F g−1 at the scan rate of 5 mV s−1 in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. This work presented a convenient and efficient method to synthesize the PANI/rGO composite as the electrode material for supercapacitors.