An all cis-polyaniline nanotube film: Facile synthesis and applications

• All cis-PANI nanotube films were obtained using a facile UPEP method.
• The formation mechanism of all cis-PANI films was proposed.
• All cis-PANI nanotube films exhibited an excellent cycling stability.
• All cis-PANI films showed an improved electrochemical capacitance performance.
• All cis-PANI films had high electrocatalytic activity to ascorbic acid.

An all cis-polyaniline nanotube film was successfully prepared using a novel unipolar pulse electro-polymerization method and its formation mechanism was analyzed and discussed. Due to its unique chemical molecular conformation, many excellent performances such as low charge transfer resistance, good water wettability, high apparent diffusion coefficient, large redox site capacity and super-stability were identified. When it was applied for the supercapacitor electrode, a high specific capacitance of 1007.7 F g−1 with a dramatic retention life of 99% after 2000 charge/discharge cycles was obtained. The ascorbic acid sensor fabricated by this film showed a large linear range for the detection of ascorbic acid between 1.0 × 10−6 and 1 × 10−2 M with a high sensitivity of 182 mA M−1 cm−1.