Observably boosted electrochemical performances of roughened graphite sheet/polyaniline electrodes for use in flexible supercapacitors

Abstract

In this work, a facile and scalable mechanically exfoliated method is put forward to fabricate roughened graphite sheet (RGS) current collector with a unique layered microstructure. And meanwhile, the electropolymerization parameter-dependent supercapacitive performance of the polyaniline (PANI) films as electroactive material is investigated in detail. Electrochemical measurements indicate that the electrochemical performances of PANI are notably improved through using optimized electropolymerization parameters, which can be attributed to the dispersed morphology and increased roughness for the obtained PANI films. More importantly, the capacitive behaviors of PANI electrodes are further observably boosted through using RGS current collector compared to GS. This can be ascribed to the 3D interface established between PANI films and RGS current collector. A symmetrical supercapacitor device is constructed by the resulting RGS/PANI electrodes. This device delivers 212.6 mF cm−2 of areal capacitance and high rate performance. Even more impressively, it retains 84.8% and 95.3% of initial capacitance after 4000 charge-discharge cycles and harsh mechanical deformation for 400 times, respectively.