Dependency of morphological and optical properties of electropolymerized PAni thin films on different substrate for supercapacitor applications

Morphological and optical properties have been investigated for electrochemically deposited polyaniline (PAni) thin films on various substrates, having different transparent conducting oxides (TCO) layer viz. ITO and FTO. Different substrates have facilate the nucleation formation for the growth of nanostructures and control the length of the diameter of nanofibrils. Diameter of the nano-fibrils can facilate the transfer of ions and electrons and hence it affects the pseudocapacitor nature of thin films. Contact angle measurements of thin films depict that hydrophilic nature of PAni thin films also depend on different substrates. Moreover, morphology dependent electrochemical performances of PAni thin films were investigated using cyclic voltametry. Photoluminescence emission has shown pronounce effect due to the variation of substrate. PAni thin films can be used as supercapacitors by tuning their capacitance by varying substrate used as working electrode.

Automated summary

The study reveals that using different substrates can affect the formation of long-diameter nanofibers in polyaniline films and the pseudocapacitor characteristics of the films. Contact angle measurements of the films show that their hydrophilicity is influenced by different substrates. Furthermore, PAni films can be used as supercapacitors by tuning capacitance through varying the substrate used as the working electrode.