Impact of an anionic surfactant on the enhancement of the capacitance characteristics of polyaniline-wrapped graphene oxide hybrid composite

The impact of anionic surfactant sodiumlaurylsulphate (SLS) on the enhancement of the electrochemical (EC) performance of polyaniline-wrapped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid composites (SPGO) for EC energy storage applications with excellent cycle stability was explored in this study. The title composite was prepared by the oxidative polymerization of aniline on surfactant-intercalated graphene oxide at subzero temperature. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) micrographs reveal the morphological modifications due to the surfactant activity on PGO. Fourier transform infrared, Raman and X-ray diffraction spectra results confirmed the formation of the SPGO hybrid composite. A prototype symmetric supercapacitor (SC) was fabricated with the SPGO hybrid composite as working electrodes in 1 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte. SC was tested for its EC performance using a two-electrode system. The SLS addition was found to have a proficient influence on the EC performance of SPGO hybrid composite ascribed to the synergism between SLS, PANI and rGO with their respective pseudocapacitive and double-layer mechanisms. SPGO symmetric SC was also found to achieve maximum specific capacitance as high as 531 F g –1 at 0.2 A g –1 , with better specific energy of 26.6 Wh kg –1 at 188.8 W kg –1 specific power and 98% columbic efficiency over 5000 cycles.