Enhanced Supercapacitor Performance Using Electropolymerization of Self-Doped Polyaniline on Carbon Film

Abstract

In this work, we electrochemically deposited self-doped polyanilines (SPANI) on the surface of carbon-nanoparticle (CNP) film, enhancing the superficial faradic reactions in supercapacitors and thus improving their performance. SPANI was electrodeposited on the CNP-film employing electropolymerization of aniline (AN) and o-aminobenzene sulfonic acid (SAN) comonomers in solution. Here, SAN acts in dual roles of a self-doped monomer while it also provides an acidic environment which is suitable for electropolymerization. The performance of SPANI−CNP-based supercapacitors significantly depends upon the mole ratio of AN/SAN. Supercapacitor performance was investigated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge and discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The optimal performance of SPANI−CNP-based supercapacitor exists at AN/SAN ratio of 1.0, having the specific capacitance of 273.3 Fg−1 at the charging current density of 0.5 Ag−1.

Keywords

• supercapacitor
• self-doped polyaniline
• carbon-nanoparticle film
• electropolymerization
• cyclic voltammetry