Surfactant assisted polyaniline nanofibres-Reduced graphene oxide (SPG) composite as electrode material for supercapacitors with high rate performance

We have synthesized a composite of surfactant assisted polyaniline nanofibres and graphene oxide (SPGO) followed by reduction to prepare surfactant assisted polyaniline nanofibres-reduced graphene oxide (SPG) composite. The performance of the synthesized composite has been compared with the SPGO, PANI and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The prepared samples have been characterized by Field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The electrodes prepared from these samples have been tested for their electrochemical performances using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedence spectroscopy (EIS), in a two electrode configuration. The CV results revealed that the SPG cell has higher voltammetric current as compared to SPGO, PANI and rGO cells leading to better capacitive nature. From charge discharge studies, the SPG cell exhibits maximum specific capacitance of 444 Fg−1 at 0.6 A g−1 with good retention after 2000 charge discharge cycles. The specific energy and power density of the SPG cell is observed to be 13.36 W h kg−1 and 1.03 kW kg−1, respectively, which is significantly large as compared to SPGO, PANI and rGO cells. The EIS studies showed enhanced rate performance of SPG cell as compared to the rGO and PANI cell which is in agreement with the CV results. These results make it a promising candidate for supercapacitor applications.