Polyaniline nano-wrinkles array on three-dimensional graphene film for high performance supercapacitors

• A 3rGN/PANI-NW film has been synthesized by electropolymerizatio.
• The film with porous structure and PANI nano-wrinkles has high specific area.
• The film exhibits a specific capacitance of 630 F g−1 in 1 M H2SO4 solution.
• After 5000 cycles, the film can keep 90.5% of its initial specific capacitance.

A facile approach has been developed to fabricate polyaniline nano-wrinkles arrays on three-dimensional graphene film (3rGN/PANI-NW) by electropolymerization, which using polystyrene microsphere (PS) as sacrificial templates to form porous structure and ZnO nanorods as scaffolds to form PANI nano-wrinkles. The novel structure can greatly reduce the diffusion length of ion and improve the utilization of electrode materials. When the composite film is used as a supercapacitor electrode, 3rGN/PANI-NW film displays a specific capacitance of 630.0 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 with excellent rate capability (remains 80% even at 10 A g−1), much higher than that of 3rGN/PANI film without using ZnO nanorod as a scaffold (358.0 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, 74% retention at 10 A g−1) in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous solution. More importantly, the 3rGN/PANI-NW can maintain 90.5% of its initial capacitance after constant charge–discharge 5000 cycles at current density of 10 A g−1, suggesting a superior electrochemical cyclic stability and it is promising candidate for use in energy storage device applications.

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