3D reduced graphene oxide/MnO2/polyaniline composite for high-performance supercapacitor

Abstract

A facile approach has been developed to fabricate 3D polystyrene microsphere-reduced graphene Oxide–MnO2–polyaniline (3DrGN–MnO2–PANI) coaxial arrays composite by using an electro-polymerization process. In this study, PS is used as a template to form a 3D braced structure with MnO2 nanosheets as scaffolds to assist in the formation of PANI coaxial nanoarrays. The PANI nanorods, which are composed of coaxial arrays deposited on the interlaced MnO2 nanosheet, have a diameter of 25–30 nm, creating a number of open porous structures which are beneficial for ion transport into the electrode. Furthermore, the structure and property of the as-prepared products have been characterized by Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Cyclic voltammetry and Galvanostatic charge–discharge tests. When the 3DrGN–MnO2–PANI composite was tested as an electrode of the supercapacitor in a three-electrode measurement, it exhibited a high specific capacitance of 1181 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 with retaining 89.1% of the initial specific capacitance retained after 1000 cycles of constant charge–discharge test at a current density of 20 A g−1. It is believed that the 3DrGN–MnO2–PANI composite will have great potential for application in supercapacitors.