Electrochemical properties of polyaniline in p-toluene sulfonic acid solution

Polyaniline was deposited potentiodynamically on a stainless steel substrate in the presence of an inorganic acids (sulfuric acid). The electrochemical characterization of the electrode was carried out by means of cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the organic acids (p-toluene sulfonic acid) solution. The results show that polyaniline has a high specific capacitance of ∼431.8 F g−1 at 1 mV s−1, high coulombic efficiency of ∼95.6% at 20 mV s−1, and exhibits a high reversibility. This indicates the promising feasibility of the polyaniline used as an electrochemical capacitor material in the electrolyte of p-toluene sulfonic acid solution especially at high charge–discharge process.

Graphical abstractThe PANI film on the SS electrode presents a porous microstructure and the porous microstructure would make the electrode having more available active sites for faradic reaction and be propitious to charge-transfer, thus leading to a lower resistance for ion binding with the polymer.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide