Novel chemically synthesized polyaniline electrodes containing a fluoroboric acid dopant for supercapacitors

The performance of chemically synthesized dual-acid-doped polyaniline (PANI) electrode material was investigated for supercapacitors for the first time. Three different grades of PANI-containing fluoroboric acid (HBF4) as one of the dopants were prepared by a chemical polymerization method. PANI-dodecylhydrogen sulfate-HBF4 salt was synthesized by an emulsion polymerization pathway. A PANI-HBF4-sodium tetrafluoroborate composite and PANI-HBF4 salt were prepared from different modifications of dopants by a dedoping-redoping process. Capacitative behaviors of the three grades of PANT electrode materials were investigated. Among the three different grades of PANI, PANI-HBF4 electrode showed the best performance in terms of conductivity (2.3 x 10(-1) S/cm), specific capacitance of the supercapacitor (140 F/g), specific energy (9.6 W h/kg), and specific power (58.8 W/kg). An increase in the capacitance of PANI-HBF4 was achieved, which identified the significant contribution of the dedoping-redoping processes in the PANI system for supercapacitors. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.