Facile Preparation and Enhanced Capacitance of the Ag-PEDOT:PSS/Polyaniline Nanofiber Network for Supercapacitors

This paper reports the synthesis of a silver - Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate)/Polyaniline(Ag-PEDOT:PSS/PANI) hybrid nanostructure using a simple dip coating technique followed by potentiodynamic electrodeposition to achieve an electrochemical supercapacitor with excellent electrochemical performance. In this sandwich type structure, the Ag nanostructure-blended PEDOT:PSS acts as a current collector, where electrons can be transferred easily through this network to the PANI nanofibers and vice versa. The AgNW-PEDOT: PSS/PANI showed a specific capacitance of 643 Fg(-1) at 10 mVs(-1) and an energy density of 86.19 Whkg(-1) at 0.1 mA, indicating the positive synergistic effect of silver nanowires (AgNW), PEDOT:PSS and PANI. The Ag nanostructure incorporated PEDOT:PSS helps to improve the electronic conductivity and the electrochemical stability of the PANI electrodes. Promising electrochemical properties achieved from the measurement of symmetric device demonstrate the ideal capacitive behavior of our prepared electrodes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.