Flexible transparent electrode based on PANi nanowire/nylon nanofiber reinforced cellulose acetate thin film as supercapacitor

Highly uniform, flexible, and transparent electrodes based on in situ polymerization of PANi nanowires on nylon nanofiber-reinforced cellulose acetate thin film substrates were reported in this study. At first, the nylon nanofibers were electrospun followed by infiltration with cellulose acetate to get highly transparent substrate. Then PANi nanowires were grown uniformly on the transparent substrate by an in situ polymerization technique. The resulting thin films showed transparency from 39% to 82% and sheet resistivity between 188 and 8700 Omega/sq depending on the aniline monomer concentration. In addition, the transparent electrode exhibited outstanding toughness during bending cycles. Further, the transparent electrode showed excellent capacitive performance with specific capacitance of 402 F/g. These promising results highlight the importance of PANi nanowires and nylon reinforced cellulose acetate film as potential materials for optoelectronic devices. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.