Chemical versus electrochemical: What is the best synthesis method to ternary GO/WO3NW/PAni nanocomposites to improve performance as supercapacitor?

Ternary nanocomposites have been widely studied as new design-controlled materials for the next generation of high-performance electrochemical electrodes. However, several drawbacks have hampered their widespread exploration, especially regarding the understanding of the influence in the synthesis methodology over the performances. We investigate herein the properties of a novel ternary nanocomposite GO/WO3NW/PAni, derived from two distinct synthesis methods: chemical and electrochemical. The obtained materials were fully characterized, and their electrochemical performance were compared according to the method employed for their synthesis. Our results demonstrated that the type of synthesis influences directly on the final structure of the ternary nanocomposite. The electrochemically synthesized nanocomposite (E-GO/WO3NW/PAni) presented a disorganized structure, which increases the doping level in the polymeric chain, the porosity, and also allows a superior synergistic effect between the GO, WO3NW and PAni when compared to the chemical synthesized nanocomposite (C-GO/WO3NW/PAni). As a result of these significant differences, E-GO/WO3NW/PAni presented higher specific capacitance, of 0.62 F cm(-2), and higher cyclability when compared to the C-GO/WO3NW/PAni, that has achieved values up to 0.50 F cm(-2). These remarkable results show directly the influence and importance of the optimization of synthetic methods over the performances, producing nanocomposites with different structures and good synergic effect that can be regarded as promising materials for energy storage field. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.