Preparation and electrochemical investigation of the polyaniline/activated carbon nanocomposite for supercapacitor applications

The polyaniline (PANI)/activated carbon (AC) nanocomposite electrodes were prepared by electropolymerization of aniline monomers on the surface of AC/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) electrodes for supercapacitor studies. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to characterize the structure and morphology of the nanocomposite electrodes. The electrochemical properties of the prepared nanocomposite electrodes and the supercapacitive behavior of the PANI, AC, and AC/PANI/PVA electrodes were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements, respectively. Morphological studies showed that a thin film of PANI has been uniformly deposited on the porous surface of AC electrode, and an ordered arrangement of nanostructures with interlinked porous network has been made. Electrochemical measurements showed that AC particles prevent the degradation of PANI chains during charge/discharge cycles. The specific capacitance of the AC/PANI/PVA nanocomposite electrode was 338.15 F/g which is higher than that of the pristine AC electrode (0.08 F/g). This is due to the contribution of PANI chains by their pseudocapacitance (redox reaction) properties. Although the specific capacitance of PAN! electrode (378.57 F/g) was greater than that of the nanocomposite electrode, the cyclic stability of the PANI electrode was lower than that of the AC/PANI/PVA nanocomposite electrode. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.