Synthesis of graphene/vitamin C template-controlled polyaniline nanotubes composite for high performance supercapacitor electrode

A graphene nanosheet/polyaniline nanotube (GPNT) composite is prepared for the first time by in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using vitamin C as a structure directing agent. The vitamin C molecules lead to the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) nanotubes through the development of rod-like assembly by H-bonding in an aqueous medium. The initially synthesized graphene oxide/polyaniline nanotubes composite is reduced to graphene using hydrazine monohydrate followed by re-oxidation and protonation of the PANI to produce the GPNT nanocomposite. This novel composite showed a high specific capacitance of 534.37 F/g and an excellent energy density of 74.27 Wh/kg at a constant current of 0.5 mA. Besides, the GPNT composite exhibited excellent cycle life with 91.4% specific capacitance retained after 500 charge-discharge cycles. The excellent performance is due to the synergistic combination of graphene which provides good electrical conductivity and mechanical stability, and PANI nanofiber which deals with good redox activity. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.