Metal-polyaniline nanofibre composite for supercapacitor applications

The aim of the present work is to increase the electrical conductivity and specific capacitance of the polyaniline (PANi) nanofibres by introducing the metallic nanostructures. Herein, metal nanoparticle-incorporated PANi nanofibres were prepared from interfacially synthesized PANi nanofibres as seeds. In the main step of aniline polymerization, the seeds were employed to produce a large amount of PANi nanofibres in the next steps. Also, metal-PANi nanofibres were chemically prepared by adding inorganic salts (nickel and copper salts) which incorporated PANi nanofibres via the self-assembly process. Increased conductivity and good electrochemical behaviour were observed for these metal-PANi nanofibres at room temperature compared with the single PANi nanofibres, which was previously reported. SEM, FT-IR and UV-Vis techniques were applied for characterization of the products. Finally, the potential application of the composites to use as electrode materials for supercapacitor was examined. Elevated specific capacitance in addition to good cycle stability was observed for the metal-PANi nanofibres. Also, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and charge/discharge experiments show that these metal-PANi nanofibres possess the high conductivity and low charge transfer resistance, which make them suitable candidates for high-performance supercapacitors.