A doped activated carbon prepared from polyaniline for high performance supercapacitors

A novel doped activated carbon has been prepared from H2SO4-doped polyaniline which is prepared by the oxypolymerization of aniline. The morphology, surface chemical composition and surface area of the carbon have been investigated by scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Brunaner–Emmett–Teller measurement, respectively. Electrochemical properties of the doped activated carbon have been studied by cyclic voltammograms, galvanostatic charge/discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements in 6 mol l−1 KOH. The specific capacitance of the carbon is as high as 235 F g−1, the specific capacitance hardly decreases at a high current density 11 A g−1 after 10,000 cycles, which indicates that the carbon possesses excellent cycle durability and may be a promising candidate for supercapacitors.