A doped activated carbon prepared from polyaniline for high performance supercapacitors

A novel doped activated carbon has been prepared from H2SO4-doped polyaniline which is prepared by the oxypolymerization of aniline. The morphology, surface chemical composition and surface area of the carbon have been investigated by scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Brunaner-Emmett-Teller measurement, respectively. Electrochemical properties of the doped activated carbon have been studied by cyclic voltammograms, galvanostatic charge/discharge. and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements in 6 mol 1(-1) KOH. The specific capacitance of the carbon is as high as 235 F g(-1), the specific capacitance hardly decreases at a high current density 11 A g-1 after 10,000 cycles, which indicates that the carbon possesses excellent cycle durability and may be a promising candidate for supercapacitors. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.