Graphene-based polyaniline nanocomposites: preparation, properties and applications

Graphene is very popular in recent years, due to its unique electrical, thermal, mechanical, optical and electrochemical properties. With these useful advantages, graphene has been used as a substance to incorporate various kinds of functional materials. Among them, graphene-based polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites have attracted a great deal of interest due to their new properties or enhanced performance during the past few years. This is because PANI is a useful conducting polymer that has been widely used for electronic, optical and electrochemical applications owing to its low cost, good environmental stability, interesting electroactivity, high pseudocapacitance and unusual doping/dedoping chemistry. This review discusses the current development of graphene-based PANI nanocomposites. After introduction of the properties of graphene, we summarize various methods to synthesize graphene-based PANI nanocomposites, as well as their enhanced properties. Finally, the applications of graphene-based PANI nanocomposites, such as supercapacitors, sensing platforms, fuel cells, solar cells, electrochromic devices, lithium ion batteries and so on, are described.