Freestanding polyaniline nanorods grown on graphene for highly capacitive energy storage

Freestanding polyaniline (PANI) nanorods grown in situ on microwave-expanded graphene oxide (MEGO) sheets were prepared through a facile solution method. The morphological characterization indicates that large quantity of free-standing PANI nanorods with average diameter of 50 nm were uniformly deposited onto the double sides of the MEGO nanosheets to form a sandwich structure. The hybrid of PANI/MEGO (GPANI) exhibit high specific surface area and high electrical conductivity, compared with pristine PANI nanorods. When evaluated as electrodes for supercapacitors, the GPANI demonstrate high specific capacitance of 628 F g −1 at a current density of 1.1 A g −1 , high-rate performance, and excellent cycle stability compared to individual component. Such excellent electrochemical performance should be attributed to the combined double-layer capacitance and pseudo -capacitance mechanisms from the MEGO sheets and PANI nanorods.

Zijiong Li, Zhen Qin, Baocheng Yang, Jian Guo, Haiyan Wang, Weiyang Zhang, Xiaowei Lv and Alison Stack

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