Graphene Oxide Decorated Nanometal-Poly(Anilino-Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid) for Application in High Performance Supercapacitors

Nomxolisi R Dywili; Afroditi Ntziouni; Chinwe Ikpo; Miranda Ndipingwi; Ntuthuko W Hlongwa; Anne L D Yonkeu; Milua Masikini; Konstantinos Kordatos; Emmanuel I Iwuoha

doi:10.3390/mi10020115

Graphene Oxide Decorated Nanometal-Poly(Anilino-Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid) for Application in High Performance Supercapacitors

Micromachines (Basel). 2019 Feb 11;10(2):115. doi: 10.3390/mi10020115.

Authors

Nomxolisi R Dywili^{1

2}, Afroditi Ntziouni³, Chinwe Ikpo⁴, Miranda Ndipingwi⁵, Ntuthuko W Hlongwa⁶, Anne L D Yonkeu⁷, Milua Masikini⁸, Konstantinos Kordatos⁹, Emmanuel I Iwuoha¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. 2762713@myuwc.ac.za.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Section I: Chemical Sciences, Lab of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Str., 15773 Athens, Greece. 2762713@myuwc.ac.za.
³ School of Chemical Engineering, Section I: Chemical Sciences, Lab of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Str., 15773 Athens, Greece. ntziouni@mail.ntua.gr.
⁴ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. cikpo@uwc.ac.za.
⁵ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. 3318577@myuwc.ac.za.
⁶ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. 2962477@myuwc.ac.za.
⁷ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. 3116018@myuwc.ac.za.
⁸ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. mmasikini@uwc.ac.za.
⁹ School of Chemical Engineering, Section I: Chemical Sciences, Lab of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Str., 15773 Athens, Greece. kordatos@central.ntua.gr.
¹⁰ SensorLab, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, Cape Town, South Africa. eiwuoha@uwc.ac.za.

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) decorated with silver (Ag), copper (Cu) or platinum (Pt) nanoparticles that are anchored on dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA)-doped polyaniline (PANI) were prepared by a simple one-step method and applied as novel materials for high performance supercapacitors. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) analyses revealed that a metal-decorated polymer matrix is embedded within the GO sheet. This caused the M/DBSA⁻PANI (M = Ag, Cu or Pt) particles to adsorb on the surface of the GO sheets, appearing as aggregated dark regions in the HRSEM images. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy studies revealed that GO was successfully produced and decorated with Ag, Cu or Pt nanoparticles anchored on DBSA⁻PANI. This was confirmed by the appearance of the GO signature epoxy C⁻O vibration band at 1040 cm^-1 (which decreased upon the introduction of metal nanoparticle) and the PANI characteristic N⁻H stretching vibration band at 3144 cm^-1 present only in the GO/M/DBSA⁻PANI systems. The composites were tested for their suitability as supercapacitor materials; and specific capacitance values of 206.4, 192.8 and 227.2 F·g^-1 were determined for GO/Ag/DBSA⁻PANI, GO/Cu/DBSA⁻PANI and GO/Pt/DBSA⁻PANI, respectively. The GO/Pt/DBSA⁻PANI electrode exhibited the best specific capacitance value of the three electrodes and also had twice the specific capacitance value reported for Graphene/MnO₂//ACN (113.5 F·g^-1). This makes GO/Pt/DBSA⁻PANI a very promising organic supercapacitor material.

Keywords: Supercapacitors; capacitance; dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) doped polyaniline; graphene oxide; metal nanoparticles.