3D ternary nanocomposites of molybdenum disulfide/polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide aerogel for high performance supercapacitors

In this study, we report a feasible method to synthesize a ternary nanocomposite, molybdenum disulfide/polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide aerogel (MoS2/PANI/rGO), via a two-step approach. Molybdenum disulfide/polyaniline (MoS2/PANI) is prepared by in situ polymerization. Graphene oxide is well-dispersed by loading MoS2/PANI nanoparticles (50-80 nm in size) and reduced using urea via a hydrothermal treatment, achieving the ternary nanocomposite. As for the composites prepared at different mass ratios of MoS2/PANI to rGO, the ternary MoS2/PANI/rGO with a mass ratio of 1:1 has a high specific capacitance of 618 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 and 476 F g−1 at 20 A g−1 with a retainment of 96% in a three-electrode system, in comparison to the specific capacitance of 418 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 and 78% retained capacitance after 2000 cycles of MoS2/PANI electrode. The combined effects between the three components in the ternary composite aerogels taking advantage of both charging and faradaic processes can readily explain the excellent electrochemical performance.