Mechanically exfoliated MoS2 sheet coupled with conductive polyaniline as a superior supercapacitor electrode material

The development of electrically conductive metal sulfide-based polymer nanocomposites for energy storage materials has been a major focus by researchers to solve the energy crisis. In this study, a simple and facile method was used to construct a nanocomposite by combining a mechanically exfoliated MoS2 (M-MoS2) sheet with polyaniline (Pani) using a simple and scalable in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization method. The as-prepared nanocomposite (M-MoS2-Pani nanocomposite) was characterized further by usual basic spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis. The electrochemical supercapacitive characteristics of the M-MoS2-Pani nanocomposite was tested in a three-electrode assembly by obtaining cyclic voltammetric (CV) curves and galvanostatic charge discharge (GCD) measurements. The results were compared with those of a C-MoS2-Pani nanocomposite that had been synthesized using bulk MoS2. The M-MoS2-Pani nanocomposite synthesized using exfoliated MoS2 exhibited a higher specific capacitance of 510.12 F g(-1) at a current of 1 A g(-1) than the C-MoS2-Paul nanocomposite (225.15 F g(-1)), which was synthesized using bulk C-MoS2 delivered. The enhanced electrochemical supercapacitive performance was correlated to the syriergistit effect and chemical interactions between the Pani and MoS2, which provide high electrical conductivity and a sufficient empty state for electrode/electrolyte contact. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.