Fe3O4/carbon nanotubes/polyaniline ternary composites with synergistic effects for high performance supercapacitors

This work studied the pseudocapacitive behavior of Fe3O4 and examined approaches to improve its electrochemical activity. Our results show that by optimizing the electrode architectures, we were able to construct ternary Fe3O4/CNTs/PANI composites that delivered excellent electroactivity and cyclic stability because of synergistic effects from each component. In this composite, CNTs were uniformly coated on the surface of Fe3O4 particles and were able to form conductive networks that electrically wired each particle, whereas PANI particles were able to bridge Fe3O4/CNTs composites and further ensure the overall mechanical integrity. Overall, with 8 wt% of PANI the electrodes were able to deliver a high specific capacitance of 260 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1). The electrodes also had excellent cyclic stability and showed only 6% decay capacity after 1000 cycles.