Electrochemical synthesis of layer-by-layer reduced graphene oxide sheets/polyaniline nanofibers composite and its electrochemical performance

A layer-by-layer (LBL) reduced graphene oxide sheets/polyaniline nanofibers (GNS/PANI) composite was developed by electrodepositing conductive polymer PANI nanofibers onto the electrically conductive GNS nanosheets to form a multilayer configuration. SEM results showed that the obtained GNS/PANI composite film had a clear open multilayer structure. The electrochemical performances of the obtained materials were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS) and chronopotentiometry. Comparing with pure PANI electrode, GNS/PANI multilayer composite displayed an improved capacitive performance (5.16 F cm−2), good rate capability and improved cycle performance, with capacity retention of about 93% after 1000 charge–discharge cycles. The good electrochemical performances of GNS/PANI composite was contributed to the modification of GNS sheets surface, the open layer-by-layer structure and the synergic effect of the two components. Therefore, such method has good application potential to fabricate other composite for supercapacitors or other power source systems.

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► A LBL-GNS/PANI composite is developed by electrodeposition PANI on GNS film followed by repeating this electrodeposition/dip-coating process.
► The resultant composite has a special open layer-by-layer nanostructure.
► The structure improves the contact between the electrode and the electrolyte.
► Results showed that these composites have good electrochemical property.