Electrochemical performance of ternary s-GN/PANI/CNTs nanocomposite as supercapacitor power electrodes

Abstract

In this paper, binary carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced conducting polyaniline (PANI) and ternary sulfonated Graphene nanosheets (s-GN) decorated CNT@PANI nanocomposites were prepared using a solution mixing followed by ultrasonic dispersion. The SEM and XRD analysis found that the s-GN and CNTs have uniformly sandwiched the PANI. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results showed that the sulfonated graphene along with CNTs have led to increase the electrochemical capacitance from 305 F/g for the binary CNT₂₀@PANI to 419 F/g for the ternary CNT₂₀@PANI@s-GN₂₀ nanocomposites (37 % increase). This increase is attributed to the free mobility of the electronic carriers on the s-GN surface for the larger surface area and presence of the SO^-3 groups. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements exhibited that the s-GN embedded PANI@CNT nanocomposite resulted in a higher energy density of 209 Wh/kg with a power density of 381 W/kg at scan rate of 5 mV/s in an electrolyte of 0.5M H₂SO₄. The prepared s-GN@PANI@CNTs nanocomposites are promising electrode’s materials for the electrochemical capacitors power systems.