Excellent electrochemical performance of graphene-polyaniline hollow microsphere composite as electrode material for supercapacitors

The novel reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline hollow spheres (rGO-PANI HS) composite material has been prepared by a simple electrostatic interaction induced coassembly of graphene and PANI hollow microspheres (PANI HS). PANI HS about 800 nm in diameter have been synthesized utilizing PS spheres as hard templates after etching the templates, and hollow PANI@GO is reduced in hydrazine hydrate. The morphology and microstructure of the obtained samples have been characterized by XRD, FTIR and TEM. Furthermore, the performance of the rGO-PANI HS composites as supercapacitor electrodes material has been investigated. The composite has a specific capacitance of 752 F g(-1) in 1 M H2SO4 solution. Furthermore, the capacitance of the rGO-PANI HS composite maintains 92 % after 500 charging/discharging cycles at a current density of 1 A g(-1), indicating a good cycling stability. The results suggest that rGO-PANI HS composite as novel electrode materials may have potential applications in high-performance energy storage devices.