Multifunctional structural supercapacitors based on polyaniline deposited carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Structural energy storage devices are recently an area of special interest as they simultaneously exhibit load-bearing and electrical energy storage capabilities. These multifunctional composites, along with their better specific mechanical strength and electrochemical properties, can be used in civil and defense applications. In the current study, novel structural supercapacitors, fabricated from polyaniline deposited carbon fabric, filter paper, and epoxy-based polymer electrolyte, via resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT) method, are investigated. Both as-received, as well as chemically activated carbon fiber mats, are trialed to examine the effect of surface area and pseudo-capacitive mechanisms of the polyaniline coated CF electrodes in structural symmetrical supercapacitors. Structural supercapacitors, fabricated from the activated carbon fabric electrodes, at a polyaniline coating density of 0.05 mg.cm−2, show 22.2 mF.g − 1 specific capacitance with a resultant 49.4 mWh.kg−1 specific energy and a 58.4 W.kg−1 specific power along with a shear modulus of 1.1 GPa and a shear strength of 6.3 MPa. The results show that depositing polyaniline onto the activated carbon fibers increases both the electrical and mechanical properties of the fabricated supercapacitors.