Binary composite of polyaniline/copper cobaltite for high performance asymmetric supercapacitor application

This article presents the effect of polyaniline (PANI) embedded copper cobaltite (CuCo2O4) as an electrode material for high performance supercapacitor application. The composite of PANI-CuCo2O4 was prepared via blending process. The formation of PANI-CuCo2O4 composite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The surface morphologies showed that the spinel structure of CuCo2O4 (average particle size of 30 nm) was well distributed on PANI matrix, suggest the effective intercalation of CuCo2O4 with PANI matrix. The electrochemical properties of CuCo2O4, PANI and PANI-CuCo2O4 composite were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 1 M of KOH as an aqueous electrolyte. The PANI-CuCo2O4 composite showed the improved specific capacitance of 403C/g than that of pure CuCo2O4 and PANI.The enhanced electrochemical performance was obtained due to the augmentation of redox active sites and synergetic effect between PANI and CuCo2O4 nanoparticles. Additionally, the fabricated (activated carbon (AC)/PANI-CuCo2O4) asymmetric supercapacitor device can be cycled reversibly at a cell voltage of 1.5 V, which exhibited excellent electrochemical performances with an energy density of 76 Wh/kg and a power density of 599 W/kg. It also presented a superior life cycle with 94% capacitance retention after 3000 cycles.