Polyaniline and multi-walled carbon nanotube-intercalated graphene aerogel and its electrochemical properties

• A new 3D polymer-MWCNT-graphene composite aerogel (PCGA) with high specific capacitance and good stability were synthesized by environmentally friendly hydrothermal method using graphene oxide, polyaniline strands, and MWCNTs.
• PCGA showed a high specific capacitance of 987 F/g which is much higher than MWCNT/graphene aerogel and polyaniline/graphene aerogel.
• PCGA had a good stability with high capacitance retention of 94% after 1000 charge/discharge cycles.

Polyaniline (PANI)- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-intercalated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) aerogel or PANI/MWCNTs/rGO aerogel (PCGA) was prepared using a one-step hydrothermal co-assembly method for supercapacitor applications. The prepared aerogel exhibited an outstanding porous structure, and showed excellent capacitive performance. PANI and the MWCNTs were dispersed well on the graphene walls of the aerogels and spaced inner graphene layers to encourage electrolyte ion absorption. Accordingly, the specific capacitance of the PCGA was increased to 987 F/g at a scan rate of 0.5 A/g, which strongly surpassed that of the MWCNT/rGO aerogel (CGA) and PANI/rGO aerogel (PGA) with a specific capacitance of 335 and 643 F/g, respectively. PCGA also showed long term cycling stability (94% after 1000 cycles), which is promising as a potential electrode material for supercapacitors.