In situ one-pot preparation of reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline composite for high-performance electrochemical capacitors

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline (rGO/PANI) composites are prepared through an effective in situ one-pot synthesis route that includes the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by aniline under weak alkali condition via hydrothermal method and then followed by in situ polymerization of aniline. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope are employed to reveal that GO is successfully reduced by aniline under weak alkali condition and PANI can be deposited on the surfaces of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. The effect of rGO is optimized by tuning the mass ratios of aniline to GO to improve the electrochemical performance of rGO/PANI composites. The maximum specific capacitance of rGO/PANI composites achieves 524.4F/g with a mass ratio of aniline to GO 10:1 at a current density of 0.5A/g, in comparison to the specific capacitance of 397F/g at the same current density of pure PANI. Particularly, the specific capacity retention rate is 81.1% after 2000 cycles at 100 mv/s scan rate, which is an improvement over that of pure PANI (55.5%).