Fabrication of anode material for asymmetric supercapacitor device using polyaniline wrapped boroncarbonitride nanocomposite with enhanced capacitance

Boroncarbonitride (BCN), a two-dimensional material has been successfully wrapped around a conductive polymer, polyaniline (PANI) through simple insitu polymerization method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Tunneling Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) studies confirm the functionalization of PANI with BCN. PANI, BCN, and PANI/BCN nanocomposite materials have been evaluated and compared their electrochemical performance for supercapacitors in a system containing three electrodes. Using cyclic voltammetric (CV) technique, the specific capacitance value of PANI has been greatly improved upon functionalization of BCN and achieved 951 Fg-1, which is very high on comparing the specific capacitance value of PANI (376 Fg-1) and BCN (487 Fg-1) at a scan rate of 2 mVs−1. The same trend of improved specific capacitance has also been observed in chronopotentiometric (CP) technique. To further evaluate the electrochemical property of the synthesized materials, two-electrode system asymmetric supercapacitor device fabrication has been carried out using PANI/BCN nanocomposite as anode material and achieved the specific capacitance of 67.1 Fg-1 at a scan rate 5 mVS−1 for PANI/BCN nanocomposite. The obtained electrochemical performance of all the three materials synthesized, could serve as an alternative material for asymmetric supercapacitor devices. [Display omitted] •Polyaniline functionalized with boroncarbonitride by insitu polymerization.•Homogenous functionalization resulted in wrapping of BCN around PANI.•Enhanced electrochemical performance of PANI/BCN nanocomposite compared to pure PANI and BCN.•Fabrication of PANI/BCN composite for asymmetric supercapacitor device.