Fabrication of sandwich nanostructure graphene/polyaniline hollow spheres composite and its applications as electrode materials for supercapacitor

• A RGO/PANI-HS composite was synthesized via a solution-based co-assembly process.
• The composite possesses a unique sandwich structure.
• The composite has improved electrochemical performance compared with PANI-HS.
• The composite exhibited high specific capacitance and excellent cycling stability.
• Results show that composite is a promising electrode material for supercapacitor.

A novel three-dimensional (3D) reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline hollow spheres (RGO/PANI-HS) composite, in which PANI-HS were inserted between RGO layers, has been fabricated as electrode materials for supercapacitor applications. This 3D nanostructure was constructed by electrostatic interaction between SiO2@polyaniline core–shell spheres and graphene oxide, reduction of graphene oxide and removal of SiO2 in sequence. Due to its tailored nanostructure and over-all conductive network, RGO/PANI-HS electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 529 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and excellent rate capability (remains 72% even at 10 A g−1), which is much higher than that of PANI-HS electrode (424 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, 62% retention at 10 A g−1) in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous solution. More importantly, RGO/PANI-HS composite can maintain 85% of its initial specific capacitance well above 51% for PANI-HS after 1000 cycles, suggesting a superior electrochemical cyclic stability.

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