A three-dimensional graphene aerogel containing solvent-free polyaniline fluid for high performance supercapacitors

Abstract

Conducting polymer based supercapacitors usually suffer from the difficulty of achieving high specific capacitance and good long-term stability simultaneously. In this communication, a long-chain protonic acid doped solvent-free self-suspended polyaniline (S-PANI) fluid and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were used to fabricate a three-dimensional RGO/S-PANI aerogel via a simple self-assembled hydrothermal method, which was then applied as a supercapacitor electrode. This 3D RGO/S-PANI composite exhibited a high specific capacitance of up to 480 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ and 334 F g⁻¹ even at a high discharge rate of 40 A g⁻¹. An outstanding cycling performance, with 96.14% of the initial capacitance remaining after 10 000 charging/discharging cycles at a rate of 10 A g⁻¹, was also achieved. Compared with the conventional conducting polymer materials, the 3D RGO/S-PANI composite presented more reliable rate capability and cycling stability. Moreover, S-PANI possesses excellent processability, thereby revealing its enormous potential in large scale production. We anticipate that the solvent-free fluid technique is also applicable to the preparation of other 3D graphene/polymer materials for energy storage.