Uniformly Polyaniline-decorated Carbon Nanofibers as Active Materials for Improved Supercapacitor Properties

Abstract

As electrode material for supercapacitor, the conducting polyaniline (PANI) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) formed nanocomposites have also been studied, but how to load stable polyaniline on carbon fiber surface is also difficult. In this paper, aniline and CNFs were prepared in situ emulsion polymerization, using hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as dopant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) can be as an emulsifier at the same time. SDS as an emulsifier is to strong the dispersibility and stability of PANI on the surface of CNFs and further to improve the specific capacitance and cycle life of nanocomposite. The measurements showed that the PANI uniformly coating had grown on the surface of CNFs. The CNFs/PANI nanocomposites and PANI were as electrode materials. Electrochemical analysis illustrated the specific capacitance of the CNFs/PANI nanocomposites was much better than pure materials. The high specific capacitance of 588 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g is due to the special structure (much better than the pure PANI) and capacitance retention of 55% after 2000 CD cycles at a current density of 10 A/g (also better than the pure PANI), indicating the electrode material is potential for supercapacitors.