Synthesis of feather fan-like PANI electrodes for supercapacitors

Feather fan-like PANI were synthesized by in situ polymerization of aniline monomer in the presence of 2,2'-([1,1'-Biphenyl]-4,4'-diyldi-2,1-ethenediyl) bis-benzenesulfonic acid disodium salt (CBS-X) dissolved in 1 M HCl. The morphological characterization demonstrates that the products with high CBS-X content were well-defined feather fan-like structure composed of nanotubes and nanofibers. Compared with pure PANI, synthesized PANI/CBS-X showed an enhanced conductivity up to 25.0 S cm(-1). As electrode materials for supercapacitors, PANI/CBS-X exhibited a high specific capacitance of 403.5 F g(-1) and an excellent cyclic stability with capacitance retention of 86.6% after 1000 cycles. The results indicated that Feather fan morphology composed of polyaniline nanotubes and nanofibers is beneficial for electrochemical performance.