Synthesis of Polyaniline-Coated Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Composite Electrode Material for Supercapacitor and Its Enhanced Electrochemical Performance

Abstract

The polyaniline-coated ordered mesoporous carbon (PCOMC) material was prepared by chemical polymerization of aniline monomers on the ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC). The synthesized PCOMC materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms and Fourier infrared spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that the polyaniline was successfully incorporated and well deposited on the external surface and inner pores of the OMC material. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of the original OMC and PCOMC materials are compared by using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests. The results showed that the electrochemical performance of the OMC material was enhanced after the incorporation of polyaniline. The specific capacitance of PCOMC electrode (813.4 F/g) measured by cyclic voltammetry at the scan rate of 2 mV/s was much higher than that of the OMC electrode (200.9 F/g). The discharge specific capacitance of the PCOMC supercapacitor could be kept at 119.4 F/g when the current density was 5 A/g, indicating its good rate performance even at high charge/discharge current density. Moreover, the PCOMC supercapacitor exhibited long cycling stability with the capacitance retention remained 77% after 3500 cycles.