PANI coated microporous graphene fiber capable of subjecting to external mechanical deformation for high performance flexible supercapacitors

Graphene based composites have been recognized as one of the most important classes of free-standing electrodes for supercapacitors. Herein, one-dimensional microporous graphene oxide fiber (MG) was designed with polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) microspheres as hard-template through a simple mass production method. The MG fiber exhibited outstanding flexibility and excellent tensile strength of 183.7 MPa. Then the polyaniline (PANI) coated microporous graphene (MGP) fibers were prepared by in-situ electropolymerization of aniline. Benefiting from the unique microporous structure, the optimized MGP fiber electrode exhibited remarkable electrochemical characteristics, such as highest specific capacitance of 36.95 mF/cm at current density of 0.25 mA/cm (204.2 F/cm(3) at current density of 1.38 A/cm(3)), as well as excellent capacitance retention of 96.31% after 2000 cyclic voltammetry cycles. More than that, the MGP fiber electrode remained high retention rate of its initial specific capacitance even under tensile stress or bending, indicating its good tolerance to external damage. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.