Mild synthesis of holey N-doped reduced graphene oxide and its double-edged effects in polyaniline hybrids for supercapacitor application

Electrochemical study of an enhanced platform by electrochemical synthesis of three-dimensional polyaniline nanofibers/reduced graphene oxide thin films for diverse applications

This work reports the electrochemical fabrication of thin films comprising polyaniline nanofibers (PANI) in conjunction with graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on ITO substrate, along with examining the electrochemical properties, with a focus on the influence of the substrate and electrolyte in the electrodeposition methods. The study explores the electrochemical characteristics of these thin films and establishes a flexible framework for their application in diverse sectors such as sensors, supercapacitors, and electronic devices. It analyzes the impact of the substrate and electrolyte in electrodeposition techniques. The effects were studied using techniques such as cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The fabrication process of PANI/GO and PANI/rGO thin films involved the integration of rGO within PANI via electropolymerization, conducted under sulfuric acid. GO was synthesized by modifying the well-known Hummers' method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). SEM showed the diameters of the formed PANI were between 40 and 150 nm, which helped to intertwine the rGO nanosheets with PANI nanofibers to form thin films. The electrochemical behavior of the PANI/rGO thin films was examined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry in different electrolytes, including sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and potassium nitrate (KNO₃). The CV profiles exhibited distinct oxidation and reduction peaks, with variations in the voltammogram morphology attributed to the nature of the electrolyte and the substrate employed during the electrodeposition process. These results highlight the critical role of both the substrate and electrolyte in governing the electrochemical performance of PANI/rGO thin films. The findings from this study demonstrate a versatile approach for the fabrication of PANI/graphene-based thin films with tunable electrochemical properties, and such a strategy has great application to fabricating other thin film composites for supercapacitors or other control source frameworks requiring enhanced charge storage and electrochemical responsiveness.

Polyaniline-graphene based composites electrode materials in supercapacitor: synthesis, performance and prospects

Supercapacitors (SCs) have become one of the most popular energy-storage devices for high power density and fast charging/discharging capability. Polyaniline is a class of conductive polymer materials with ultra-high specific capacitance, and the excellent mechanical properties will play a key role in the research of flexible SCs. The synergistic effect between polyaniline and graphene is often used to overcome their respective inherent shortcomings, thus the high-performance polyaniline-graphene based nanocomposite electrode materials can be prepared. The development of graphene-polyaniline nanocomposites as electrode materials for SCs depends on their excellent microstructure design. However, it is still difficult to seek a balance between graphene performance and functionalization to improve the weak interfacial interaction between graphene and polyaniline. In this manuscript, the latest preparation methods, research progress and research results of graphene-polyaniline nanocomposites on SCs are reviewed, and the optimization of electrode structures and performances is discussed. Finally, the prospect of graphene-polyaniline composites is expected.

Investigation of Hybrid Electrodes of Polyaniline and Reduced Graphene Oxide with Bio-Waste-Derived Activated Carbon for Supercapacitor Applications

Graphene-based materials have been widely studied in the field of supercapacitors. However, their electrochemical properties and applications are still restricted by the susceptibility of graphene-based materials to curling and agglomeration during production. This study introduces a facile method for synthesizing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and activated carbon based on olive stones (OS) with polyaniline (PAni) surface decoration for the development of supercapacitors. Several advanced techniques were used to examine the structural properties of the samples. The obtained PAni@OS-rGO (1:1) electrode exhibits a high electrochemical capacity of 582.6 F·g-1 at a current density of 0.1 A·g-1, and an energy density of 26.82 Wh·kg-1; thus, it demonstrates potential for efficacious energy storage. In addition, this electrode material exhibits remarkable cycling stability, retaining over 90.07% capacitance loss after 3000 cycles, indicating a promising long cycle life. Overall, this research highlights the potential of biomass-derived OS in the presence of PAni and rGO to advance the development of high-performance supercapacitors.

A Comprehensive Compilation of Graphene/Fullerene Polymer Nanocomposites for Electrochemical Energy Storage

Electricity consumption is an integral part of life on earth. Energy generation has become a critical topic, addressing the need to fuel the energy demands of consumers. Energy storage is an offshoot of the mainstream process, which is now becoming a prime topic of research and development. Electrochemical energy storage is an attractive option, serving its purpose through fuel cells, batteries and supercapacitors manipulating the properties of various materials, nanomaterials and polymer substrates. The following review presents a comprehensive report on the use of carbon-based polymer nanocomposites, specifically graphene and fullerene-based polymer nanocomposites, towards electrochemical energy storage. The achievements in these areas, and the types of polymer nanocomposites used are listed. The areas that lack of clarity and have a dearth of information are highlighted. Directions for future research are presented and recommendations for fully utilizing the benefits of the graphene/fullerene polymer nanocomposite system are proposed.

Chitosan/graphene oxide hybrid hydrogel electrode with porous network boosting ultrahigh energy density flexible supercapacitor

To overcome the low energy density and poor conductivity of conventional electrode materials for building supercapacitor, herein, a hybrid hydrogel prepared from compositing bio-based chitosan with holey graphene oxide by microwave-assisted hydrothermal is proposed. This binary hydrogel is endowed with heteroatomic functional groups and conductive porous network by chemical pretreatments, where amides and carboxyl groups are introduced during the acylation modification of chitosan to enable it soluble in water for sufficient reaction, while the oxidation etching for graphene oxide in the defect area by H₂O₂ facilitates in-plane nanopores network to provide abundant active surface and short ion diffusion pathway. Benefited from the high conductivity and flexibility, this hydrogel present promising performance when used as additive-free electrode in a three-electrode, with a high specific capacitance of 377 F/g at 5 A/g. The rich nitrogen and oxygen groups on surface of the hydrogel contribute to high capacitance directly, while the in-plane nanopores and hierarchically porous network benefit to promote their wettability, accelerate the charge transfer and enhance their charge storage ability. When the hydrogel composite is adopted into a flexible solid-state supercapacitor employing lignin hydrogel electrolyte, it unfolds a specific capacitance of 210 F/g at 0.5 A/g, with an ultrahigh energy density of 31 Wh/kg at the power density of 150 W/kg. The solid-state supercapacitor exhibits promising potential in applications such as signal sensor and portable energy storage.

Synergetic Effect of Polyaniline and Graphene in Their Composite Supercapacitor Electrodes: Impact of Components and Parameters of Chemical Oxidative Polymerization

The current development of clean and high efficiency energy sources such as solar or wind energy sources has to be supported by the design and fabrication of energy storage systems. Electrochemical capacitors (or supercapacitors (SCs)) are promising devices for energy storage thanks to their highly efficient power management and possible small size. However, in comparison to commercial batteries, SCs do not have very high energy densities that significantly limit their applications. The value of energy density directly depends on the capacitance of full SCs and their cell voltage. Thus, an increase of SCs electrode specific capacitance together with the use of the wide potential window electrolyte can result in high performance SCs. Conductive polymer polyaniline (PANI) as well as carbonaceous materials graphene (G) or reduced graphene oxide (RGO) have been widely studied for usage in electrodes of SCs. Although pristine PANI electrodes have shown low cycling stability and graphene sheets can have low specific capacitance due to agglomeration during their preparation without a spacer, their synergetic effect can lead to high electrochemical properties of G/PANI composites. This review points out the best results for G/PANI composite in comparison to that of pristine PANI or graphene (or RGO). Various factors, such as the ratio between graphene and PANI, oxidants, time, and the temperature of chemical oxidative polymerization, which have been determined to influence the morphology, capacitance, cycling stability, etc. of the composite electrode materials measured in three-electrode system are discussed. Consequently, we provide an in-depth summary on diverse promising approaches of significant breakthroughs in recent years and provide strategies to choose suitable electrodes based on PANI and graphene.

Sulfur and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots/PANI nanocomposites for supercapacitors

Sulfur and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots/polyaniline nanocomposites were synthesized and their electrochemical charge storage properties were tested for supercapacitor applications.

1,3,6,8-Pyrenetetrasulfonic acid anchored doping to prepare solution-processable polyaniline for electrochromic supercapacitors

A new strategy to improve the ion transmission and stability of ESCs by introducing an anchored dopant during the polymerization of PANI has been proposed.

Preparation of Slightly Crumpled Aminated Graphene Nanosheets for Honeycomb-Like Flexible Graphene/PANI Composite Film Electrode with Enhanced Capacitive Performance in Solid-State Supercapacitors

Slightly crumpled aminated graphene nanosheets were prepared via the mild surface modification of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets with p-phenylenediamine at room temperature to inhibit the restacking of graphene but avoid cross-linking during the solvothermal or microwave-assisted treatments, and then the honeycomb-like flexible graphene/polyaniline (PANI) composite film electrode, PANI@rPGO, was developed by the facile vacuum filtration and reduction. Owing to the slightly crumpled PGO nanosheets with surface amino groups, the honeycomb-like PANI@rPGO composite film, with a well-defined dispersion of PANI nanorods in the graphene-based matrix and the hierarchically porous structure, possessed superior electrochemical performance as a robust electrode in flexible solid-state supercapacitors (SSCs). The symmetric SSCs based on the PANI@rPGO electrode possessed a high capacitance of 564.5 F/g and 2015.2 mF/cm² at 0.5 A/g (2.2 mA/cm²), superior cyclic life with retentions of 104.2 and 78.5% after 2000 and 5000 cycles at 3 A/g, as well as excellent flexibility. The mild one-pot preparation and the superior electrochemical performance make the designed PANI@rPGO composite film electrode a potential candidate for high-performance flexible SSCs.

Study on Direct Synthesis of Energy Efficient Multifunctional Polyaniline-Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite and Its Application in Aqueous Symmetric Supercapacitor Devices

The synthesis of promising nanocomposite materials can always be tricky and depends a lot on the method of synthesis itself. Developing such synthesis routes, which are not only simple but also can effectively catch up the synergy of the compositing material, is definitely a worthy contribution towards nanomaterial science. Carbon-based materials, such as graphene oxide, and conjugative polymers, such as conductive polyaniline, are considered materials of the 21st century. This study involves a simple one pot synthesis route for obtaining a nanocomposite of polyaniline and graphene oxide with synergistic effects. The study was carried out in a systematic way by gradually changing the composition of the ingredients in the reaction bath until the formation of nanocomposite took place at some particular reaction parameters. These nanocomposites were then utilized for the fabrication of electrodes for aqueous symmetric supercapacitor devices utilizing gold or copper as current collectors. The device manifested a good capacitance value of 264 F/g at 1 A/g, magnificent rate performance, and capacitance retention of 84.09% at a high current density (10 A/g) when gold sheet electrodes were used as the current collectors. It also showed a capacitance retention of 79.83% and columbic efficiency of 99.83% after 2000 cycles.

Recent Advances of Porous Graphene: Synthesis, Functionalization, and Electrochemical Applications

Graphene is a 2D sheet of sp² bonded carbon atoms and tends to aggregate together, due to the strong π-π stacking and van der Waals attraction between different layers. Its unique properties such as a high specific surface area and a fast mass transport rate are severely blocked. To address these issues, various kinds of 2D holey graphene and 3D porous graphene are either self-assembled from graphene layers or fabricated using graphene related materials such as graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide. Porous graphene not only possesses unique pore structures, but also introduces abundant exposed edges and accelerates mass transfer. The properties and applications of these porous graphenes and their composites/hybrids have been extensively studied in recent years. Herein, recent progress and achievements in synthesis and functionalization of various 2D holey graphene and 3D porous graphene are reviewed. Of special interest, electrochemical applications of porous graphene and its hybrids in the fields of electrochemical sensing, electrocatalysis, and electrochemical energy storage, are highlighted. As the closing remarks, the challenges and opportunities for the future research of porous graphene and its composites are discussed and outlined.

Review on Carbon/Polyaniline Hybrids: Design and Synthesis for Supercapacitor

Polyaniline has been widely used in high-performance pseudocapacitors, due to its low cost, easy synthesis, and high theoretical specific capacitance. However, the poor mechanical properties of polyaniline restrict its further development. Compared with polyaniline, functionalized carbon materials have excellent physical and chemical properties, such as porous structures, excellent specific surface area, good conductivity, and accessibility to active sites. However, it should not be neglected that the specific capacity of carbon materials is usually unsatisfactory. There is an effective strategy to combine carbon materials with polyaniline by a hybridization approach to achieve a positive synergistic effect. After that, the energy storage performance of carbon/polyaniline hybridization material has been significantly improved, making it a promising and important electrode material for supercapacitors. To date, significant progress has been made in the synthesis of various carbon/polyaniline binary composite electrode materials. In this review, the corresponding properties and applications of polyaniline and carbon hybrid materials in the energy storage field are briefly reviewed. According to the classification of different types of functionalized carbon materials, this article focuses on the recent progress in carbon/polyaniline hybrid materials, and further analyzes their corresponding properties to provide guidance for the design, synthesis, and component optimization for high-performance supercapacitors.