High-performance asymmetric supercapacitor based on hierarchical nanocomposites of polyaniline nanoarrays on graphene oxide and its derived N-doped carbon nanoarrays grown on graphene sheets

Amin Goljanian Tabrizi; Nasser Arsalani; Abdolkhaled Mohammadi; Laleh Saleh Ghadimi; Iraj Ahadzadeh

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.065

High-performance asymmetric supercapacitor based on hierarchical nanocomposites of polyaniline nanoarrays on graphene oxide and its derived N-doped carbon nanoarrays grown on graphene sheets

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Dec 1:531:369-381. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.065. Epub 2018 Jul 17.

Authors

Amin Goljanian Tabrizi¹, Nasser Arsalani², Abdolkhaled Mohammadi³, Laleh Saleh Ghadimi¹, Iraj Ahadzadeh⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Laboratory of Polymer, Department of Organic and Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
² Research Laboratory of Polymer, Department of Organic and Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Electronic address: arsalani@tabrizu.ac.ir.
³ Research Laboratory of Polymer, Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
⁴ Research Laboratory of Electrochemical Instrumentation and Energy Systems, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

PMID: 30041114
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.065

Abstract

Activated carbon (AC), as a material for asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC), is the most widely used as negative electrode. However, AC has some electrode kinetic problems which are corresponded to inner-pore ion transport that restrict the maximum specific energy and power that can be attained in an energy storage system. Therefore, it is an important topic for researchers to extend the carbonaceous material with qualified structure for negative electrode supercapacitor. In this work, novel promoted ASC have been fabricated using nanoarrays of polyaniline grown on graphene oxide sheets (PANI-GO) as positive electrode and also, carbonized nitrogen-doped carbon nanoarrays grown on the surface of graphene (CPANI-G) as negative electrode. The porous structure of the as-synthesized CPANI-G can enlarge the specific surface area and progress ion transport into the interior of the electrode materials. From the other point of view, nitrogen doping can impressively improve the wettability of the carbon surface in the electrolyte and upgrade the specific capacitance by a pseudocapacitive effect. Because of the high specific capacitance and distinguished rate performance of PANI-GO and CPANI-G and moreover, the synergistic effects of the two electrodes with the optimum potential window, the ASC display excellent electrochemical performances. In comparison with the symmetric cell based on PANI-GO (40 Wh kg^-1), the fabricated PANI-GO//CPANI-G ASC exhibits a remarkably enhanced maximum energy density of 52 Wh kg^-1. Furthermore, ASC electrode exhibits excellent cycling durability, with 90.3% specific capacitance preserving even after 5000 cycles. These admirable results show great possibilities in developing energy storage devices with high energy and power densities for practical applications.

Keywords: Asymmetric supercapacitors; Graphene; Nitrogen–doped carbon; Polyaniline.