Comparative study of CdS&TiO2 based polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposites as electrode for supercapacitors

Abstract

The researchers used the oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline to prepare the polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol (PANI/PVA) blend and its nanocomposites loaded with cadmium sulfide and Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (CdS-NPs & TiO2-NPs) were synthesized by aniline oxidative chemical polymerization. CdS and TiO2 were incorporated into the prepared nanocomposite to reinforce the mechanical and electrical energy storage performance. XRD revealed the presence of CdS NPs & TiO2 NPs in the polymer matrix; meanwhile, SEM confirms they are well dispersion in the polymer matrix and are dispersed well on the superficies of the synthesized nanocomposites. The presence of characteristic peaks in the Fourier transforms infrared proved the compatibility of the investigated nanocomposite. This study demonstrates how stable the synthesized samples are, with residual material for TiO2/PANI/PVA exceeding 60% even at 800 °C and for CdS/PANI/PVA exceeding 33% at 800 °C. The capacitance of CdS/PVA/PANI nanocomposites (492.29 F.g−1) at 1 A.g−1. The CdS/PVA/PANI and TiO2/PVA/PANI nanocomposites possesses the maximum Es of 2343.65 Wh.kg−1 and 373.17 Wh.kg−1. The CdS/PVA/PANI nanocomposites had the highest energy storage and power density among these binary hybrids. A broadband dielectric spectroscopy was used to examine the electrical and dielectric properties of the prepared samples over a broad range of frequencies and at four selected temperatures. The growth in dc caused by the rise in temperature from 25 to 150 °C (from 10−12 to 10−7 S cm−1) was around five decades as well as the second nanocomposite, TiO2/PANI/PVA, has slightly higher conductivity. The study shows that the blend behaves similarly to its two nanocomposites in the activation plot. However, the blend has higher dc-conductivity by about four orders of magnitude, and an electrode polarization is developed accompanied by apparently colossal ε′ values. This makes it very promising for applications in many fields of advanced microelectronics.