Interwoving polyaniline and a metal-organic framework grown in situ for enhanced supercapacitor behavior

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a promising electrode material for supercapacitors owing to their high porosity and a regular porous structure, however, the capacitance performance and/or ion conduction rate performance of most MOFs with poor electrical conductivity are greatly hindered. To increase the bulk electrical conductivity and the efficiency of MOFs, an effective method was proposed by interweaving organic conductive polymer polyaniline (PANI) and MOF crystals (ZIF-67) grown in situ. As a result, the highly conductive PANI that interlink the MOF particles (denoted as ZIF-67@PANI) increase the electron transfer between MOF particles while the effective porosity of the MOF is maintained, which greatly improves the electrical conductivity and capacitance of MOFs. Electrochemical studies indicates that the ZIF-67@PANI exhibits ultrahigh specific capacity of 1123.65 C g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in a three-electrode system, superior rate capability (648.9 C g−1 at 10 A g−1 current density) and excellent cycling stability (92.3% capacity retention after 9000 cycles). Furthermore, a symmetrical supercapacitor device based on ZIF-67@PANI network exhibits ultrahigh energy density of 71.1 W h kg−1 at a power density of 504.72 W kg−1 at 1 A g−1 current density. The capacitance performance of ZIF-67@PANI-2 we report here is the best among the supercapacitor materials formed by MOFs and conductive polymers up to date, confirming the importance of hybrid materials on the nanoscale and the significance of in situ synthetic chemistry.