Synthesis and characterisation of polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol composites as supercapacitor electrode materials

Abstract

Composites of polyaniline and polyvinyl alcohol were prepared through an in-situ polymerisation of aniline using ethanol as a coagulating agent and characterised for their applicability as supercapacitor electrode material. The thermally stable composites afford moderately high electrical conductivity. Composite with 0.03 mol aniline exhibited a high electrical conductivity of 0.371 × 10 −2 S/cm. The variation in electrical conductivity with an increase in aniline content is consistent with the band gap energies estimated from electronic spectra and IR drop. SEM analysis confirms coral-like nanowires of polyaniline (PANI) grown within the polyvinyl alcohol matrix. Cyclic voltametric studies revealed that the composites are highly electroactive as they allow easy diffusion of ions through the nanowires of PANI for efficient electrochemical reaction. The composite with 0.03 mol aniline has a superior specific capacitance of 302 Fg −1 at a scan rate of 5 mV/s. The composite exhibited a maximum energy density of 41.94 Whkg −1 and excellent stability even after storage of 18 months in ambient condition with 83.3% capacitance retention.

Synthesis and characterization of conjugated PVA/PANi blend doped with functionalized Graphene for Thermoelectric Applications

“…The SEM image shown in Fig. 3.a confirmed the formation of a homogenous interpenetrating network of polymer blends [22,28]. The images of the (PVA0.7PANi0.3)/FGNPx nanocomposite films are shown in Figure (3(b-f)).…”

Bio-mimetic sensing characteristics of differently synthesized polyanilines towards the surrounding electrical and chemical energetic conditions

“…Non-symmetric C6 ring stretching modes are also observed in the range of 1450-1600 cm -1 . Table 1 lists the characteristic IR peaks [45,47].…”

“…The inherent ability of conducting polymers, other than polypyrrole, to self-sense has not been extensively investigated. Ismail et al have recently published several studies on the responsive sensing properties of polyanilines [43], polyindole [9,44] and polyaniline composites [45]. Our team has synthesized six polyanilines with varying reaction times.…”

Conducting polymer/hydrogel hybrid free-standing electrodes for flexible supercapacitors capable of self-sensing working conditions: large-scale fabrication through facile and low-cost route

“…The major challenges experienced by CPs in developing electrochemical devices for practical applications are their poor mechanical strength and lack of processability as well as the less electrochemical cycling stability as a consequence of the structural degradation caused by repeated swelling/ shrinking during oxidation/reduction of polymer chains. Various strategies have been proposed by researchers to overcome these drawbacks: derivatization of the polymer backbone; copolymerization with substituted monomers and introduction of lengthy substituent groups, sulfonic acid groups or carboxyl groups into the main chain [16][17][18][19][20][21]; the preparation of composites/hybrid/blend with processable polymers [22][23][24][25][26]; the use of surfactants [27]; incorporation of metallic nanoparticles [28,29] or using polymeric/hydrogel nano bers and micro bers as templates [30][31][32][33][34]. In this work, hybrid lms were fabricated by adopting a facile and low-cost strategy suitable for large-scale production by the incorporation of CP (polyaniline) with a biocompatible hydrogel (Chitosan) in view to develop mechanically stable electrode materials.…”