Energy storage performance of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/co-doped polyaniline nanocomposites

Abstract

The design and exploration of carbon-based electrode materials have become highly significant for developing supercapacitor technology, which has attracted considerable attention in energy storage systems. Here, nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) – Polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile two-step method in which in situ polymerization of aniline monomer was performed on hydrothermally synthesized N-rGO nanosheets in DBSA and H2SO4 medium for co-doping of PANI chains. The effects of various acid concentrations (DBSA:H2SO4 0.5 − 0.25:1 n/n) and N-rGO:aniline ratios (N-rGO:aniline 1:4–10 m/m) used in the preparation of the electrode material on the capacitive properties were investigated. It is found that the co-doped N-rGO-PANI nanocomposites exhibit a high specific capacitance of 346.3 F g− 1 at 1 A g− 1, remarkable rate capacity (99.9%, 1–10 A g− 1) and excellent cycle stability at 5 A g− 1 (81.3%, 5000 cycles) in a two-electrode system. As a result, constructing co-doped PANI chains and N-doped rGO provided a viable and simple way to improve the capacitive performances of supercapacitors.