Activated polyaniline-based carbon nanoparticles for high performance supercapacitors

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles have been prepared by disperse polymerization of aniline in the presence of poly(4-styrenesulfonate). The PANI nanoparticles are further subjected to pyrolysis treatment and chemical-activation to prepare the activated nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles (APCNs). The porosity, structure and nitrogen-doped surface chemistry are analyzed by a varies of means, such as scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy, N2 sorption, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The capacitive performance of the APCNs materials are test in 6M KOH electrolyte. Benefitting from the abundant micropores with short length, large specific surface area, hierarchical porosity and heteroatom-doped polar pore surface, the APCNs materials exhibit v exhibit very high specific capacitance up to 341Fg−1, remarkable power capability and excellent long-term cyclic stability (96.6% after 10 000 cycles). At 40Ag−1, APCN-2 carbon shows a capacitance of 164Fg−1, responding to a high energy and power densities of 5.7Whkg−1 and 10 000Wkg−1.