Hierarchical composite of Co2+ doped polyaniline/graphite felt for supercapacitor

Abstract

In this paper, a facile method was introduced to prepare the hierarchical composite that the aligned Co2+ doped PANI nanowires and twining Co2+ doped PANI nanofibers were delicately synthesized on the graphite fiber (Co2+ doped PANI/gf). The structure of Co2+ doped PANI was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron survey. The scanning electron microscopy showed that the surface morphology of Co2+ doped PANI/gf could be controlled by adjusting the molar ratio of An/Co2+ and the aniline concentration. The Co2+ doped PANI/gf hierarchical composite exhibited a high specific capacitance of 562 F/g at 0.2 A/g and presented excellent cycling durability that it retained 92.9% of the initial specific capacitance after 1000 cycles at a scan rate of 100 mV/s. The improved electrochemical performance suggested a promising application of the Co2+ doped PANI/gf hierarchical composite in high performance supercapacitor.