High-performance Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitor enabled by the hierarchical N/S co-doped graphene/polyaniline cathode

Zinc ion hybrid supercapacitors (Zn-HSCs), combined with the superiorities of supercapacitors and batteries, are regarded to have evolutive potential in devices of energy storage. Herein, the nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene/polyaniline nanoarrays (NSG/PANI) have been successfully compounded by in-situ polymerization. The structural characterization shows that the NSG/PANI-50 nanocomposite possess more active sites and vertically arranged PANI nanoarrays on the surface of NSG. The Zn-HSCs devices assembled by the zinc foil as anode, NSG/PANI-x (x = 30, 50, 70) as cathode and ZnSO4 as electrolyte (NSG/PANI//ZnSO4 (aq.)//Zn) show extraordinary energy storage properties. The prepared NSG/PANI-50//Zn device exhibits exceptional specific capacitance of 268.4 F g(-1) at 0.1 A g(-1)(the retention rate is 75.2% as the current density increased 20-times from 0.1 A g(-1) to 2 A g(-1)), high energy density (95.4 Wh kg(-1)) and excellent capacitance retention rate of similar to 93% at 5 A g(-1) after 10,000 cycles. The diffusion-controlled behavior (72% of the total storage charge at 5 mV s(-1)) suggests that the diffusion-controlled process acts a momentous role in the process of energy storage. The impressive results demonstrate that NSG/PANI nanocomposite could be a potential high-performance electrode material for Zn-ion hybrid energy systems. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene/polyaniline nanoarrays (NSG/PANI) were synthesized and demonstrated exceptional energy storage properties in zinc ion hybrid supercapacitors. The NSG/PANI nanocomposite exhibited high specific capacitance, high energy density, and excellent capacitance retention rate. The results highlight the potential of NSG/PANI as a high-performance electrode material for zinc-ion hybrid energy systems.