Investigation on NiWO4/PANI composite as an electrode material for energy storage devices

Abstract

With the fast exhaustion of fossil fuels, the need for new energy storage materials to meet the world's massive energy demand has increased tremendously. Inorganic components with conducting polymer based materials for supercapacitors (SCs) have seen significant research breakthroughs in recent years. Herein, we report an efficient material of a NiWO₄/PANI composite, synthesised successfully via a polymerization route. The composite was characterized by different physico-chemical techniques. NiWO₄/PANI exhibited a unique morphology with more redox sites, which enhanced the electrochemical performance. Moreover, the NiWO₄/PANI electrode delivered a high specific capacity (C_s) of 854 C g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ and a considerable capacitance retention of 91.6% even after 5000 GCD cycles at 2 A g⁻¹. The advantage of the high conductivity of PANI and short ion transport channels of NiWO₄, combined with the synergistic factor of NiWO₄ and PANI, resulted in an improved specific capacity. Also, this work puts forward an alternate energy storage material to fabricate high performance SCs.