Twist fibrous structure of CS–SnO2–PANI ternary hybrid composite for electrochemical capacitance performance

Abstract

In this study, a twisted fibrous CS–SnO₂–PANI ternary hybrid composite structure was synthesized via a two step method; the CS–SnO₂ hybrid composite was prepared by a simple chemical precipitation method and the resulting CS–SnO₂ suspension was coated with PANI by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline monomer in acidic medium using ammonium persulphate as the oxidant. The resulting respective materials of chitosan, SnO₂ and PANI were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), field emission gun-transmission electron microscope (FEG-TEM), thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The electrochemical capacitors performances were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and impedance spectroscopy. The electrochemical results demonstrated that the CS–SnO₂–PANI ternary hybrid composite achieved 179.20 F g⁻¹ capacitance values in 1 M H₂SO₄ solution at a 10 mV s⁻¹ potential sweep rate with a maximum of energy density of 8.96 (W h kg⁻¹) and power density of 32.25 (kW kg⁻¹). A synergistic effect among the three components of the chitosan based ternary hybrid composite can be a promising modified electrode material for capacitor applications.