Polyaniline nanofiber decorated carbon nanofiber hybrid mat for flexible electrochemical supercapacitor

We have explored facile synthetic approach to fabricate free-standing hybrid mat based on nanostructured polyaniline (PANi) and carbon nanofibre (CNF) mat for binder-free supercapacitor electrode material by taking the merit of pseduocapacitance of PANi nanofibres and double layer capacitance of CNFs. The results of different spectroscopic analyses indicate successful growth of PANi on CNF surfaces with non-bonding interactions between them. The PANi/CNF hybrid with a core-shell structure, in which PANi nanofibers were grown on the surfaces of CNFs, was observed in the morphological analysis. The PANi/CNF hybrid mat-based electrode demonstrated a maximum gravimetric capacitance of 493.75 F/g at 1 mA/cm(2) with excellent cycling stability. The PANi/CNF hybrid showed an energy density of 68.6 Wh/kg, while the energy density retained to 32.2 Wh/kg at 8.3 kW/kg. The above investigation demonstrates a step forward to design and fabricate flexible, high energy density and low-cost supercapacitor devices.