Hierarchical composites of polyaniline–graphene nanoribbons–carbon nanotubes as electrode materials in all-solid-state supercapacitors

Abstract

A three dimensional (3D) polyaniline (PANI)-graphene nanoribbon (GNR)-carbon nanotube (CNT) composite, PANI-GNR-CNT, has been prepared via in situ polymerization of an aniline monomer on the surface of a GNR-CNT hybrid. Here, the 3D GNR-CNT hybrid has been conveniently prepared by partially unzipping the pristine multi-walled CNTs, while the residual CNTs act as "bridges" connecting different GNRs. The morphology and structure of the resulting hybrid materials have been characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical tests reveal that the hierarchical PANI-GNR-CNT composite based on the two-electrode cell possesses much higher specific capacitance (890 F g(-1)) than the GNR-CNT hybrid (195 F g(-1)) and neat PANI (283 F g(-1)) at a discharge current density of 0.5 A g(-1). At the same time, the PANI-GNR-CNT composite displays good cycling stability with a retention ratio of 89% after 1000 cycles, suggesting that this novel PANI-GNR-CNT composite is a promising candidate for energy storage applications.

Programmable Nanocarbon‐Based Architectures for Flexible Supercapacitors

“…Apart from PPy, PANI has also been successfully added into the graphene nanoribbon-CNT hybrid fi lms, achieving a PANI-graphene nanoribbon-CNT composite fi lm by in situ polymerization of aniline monomers on the surface of a graphene nanoribbon-CNT hybrid fi lm. [ 175 ] Nanocarbon-based materials often show good stability, but their capacitance is relatively low since not all their BET surface area can be electrochemically accessible. Accordingly, various conductive polymer nanostructure materials such as PANI, PPy, and PEDOT have been assembled into the nanocarbon architectures, forming fl exible composite materials.…”

Highly sensitive and simultaneous electrochemical determination of 2-aminophenol and 4-aminophenol based on poly( l -arginine)-β-cyclodextrin/carbon nanotubes@graphene nanoribbons modified electrode

“…These make GNRs ideal candidates for advanced electrochemical and electronic devices in many fields, such as lithium ion batteries (Lin et al, 2013a), supercapacitors (Lin et al, 2013b;Liu et al, 2013), organic photovoltaics (Osella et al, 2012), large-scale device fabrication (Martin-Fernandez et al, 2012), high dielectric constant gate dielectrics (Liao et al, 2010), sensors Sun et al, 2011) and optoelectronics (Wei et al, 2013). Recent researches (Wei et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2013) confirmed that the CNTs-GNRs composites could exhibit much more excellent electrochemical performance compared with a single component of CNTs or GNRs due to the synergistic effects:…”

Fabrication and functionalization of carbon nanotube films for high-performance flexible supercapacitors

“…[123] Tuning the chemical polymerization process achieved hierarchical nanostructures with high specific area on individual CNTs. (Figure 11 capacitance.…”