Improved performance of flexible supercapacitor using naphthalene sulfonic acid-doped polyaniline/sulfur-doped reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

In this study, we followed a facile method to grow well-aligned PANI nanostructures on S-doped reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (SPANI/S-rGO) using hydrothermal method combined with soft template polymerization of aniline where naphthalene sulfonic acid is used as a dopant for PANI as well as the soft template. The effect of using different wt% of S-rGO on the structural, morphology, and electrochemical performance of SPANI/S-rGO composites has been evaluated. Supercapacitor fabricated using SPANI/S-rGO10 (10 wt% of S-rGO) composite based electrodes delivered a high specific capacitance of 347.5 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in symmetrical cell design (the specific capacitance was calculated based on a single electrode). Only 11% of its initial capacitance is lost after 2500 cycles at a current density of 2 A/g. The enhanced performance is attributed to the optimum loading of S-rGO in designing binary composite, well-aligned growth of SPANI nanostructures on S-rGO sheets, and synergistic effect of both S-rGO and SPANI. The facile synthesized SPANI/S-rGO composite electrode material with the aforementioned features is considered to be a promising candidate for a high-performance supercapacitor.

Automated summary

In this study, PANI nanostructures were successfully grown on S-doped reduced graphene oxide nanosheets using a facile hydrothermal method combined with soft template polymerization. The effect of different wt% of S-rGO on the structural, morphology, and electrochemical performance of the SPANI/S-rGO composites was evaluated. The resulting SPANI/S-rGO10 composite electrode material showed a high specific capacitance and cycling stability, making it a promising candidate for high-performance supercapacitors.