Novel application of water-dispersible polyaniline-poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) for all-solution-based electrochemical capacitors

Water-dispersible and electrically conductive polyaniline-poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PANI-PAAMPSA) was employed for the first time to fabricate high-efficiency symmetrical supercapacitors. PANI-PAAMPSA was synthesized by the templating method, and subsequently directly processed from water to form flexible supercapacitors with 2 M H2SO4 electrolyte. The capacitive properties of PANI-PAAMPSA-based supercapacitors were further enhanced by incorporating ZnO nanowires into PANI-PAAMPSA electrodes. The all-solution-based supercapacitors with PANI-PAAMPSA/ZnO nanowires exhibited significant capacitance improvements of up to 3-fold increase compared to PANI-PAAMPSA electrodes. The enhanced capacitive characteristics of PANI-PAAMPSA/ZnO nanowires are attributed to the larger surface area and pseudo capacitance due to the nanowires. Our work thus could provide a simple and scalable route to fabricate solution-based and low-cost electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors or batteries. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.