Silver Nanoparticles Decorated Polyaniline/Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposite for High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrode

Abstract

In the modern era, it is still a challenge to develop an easy, inexpensive, and scalable technique to fabricate an energy storage system. Here, a low-cost and simple process was used to fabricate a silver–polyaniline/multiwalled carbon nanotubes ((Ag-PANI)/MWCNTs) nanocomposite for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. The possible interactions between Ag and PANI were characterized by Fourier transform infrared and UV–visible spectroscopies. Morphological study confirmed the formation of Ag nanoparticles in the PANI surface, and the MWCNTs were uniformly coated by PANI with the presence of Ag nanoparticles. The nanocomposite showed better electrical conductivity of 4.24 S/cm at room temperature and also attained nonlinear current–voltage characteristics. The highest specific capacitance of 528 F/g has been obtained for the nanocomposite at 5 mV/s scan rate. The nanocomposite also showed better energy as well as power density. Ag-PANI/CNT based supercapacitors with outstanding energy and power density make them a potentially promising candidate for future energy storage systems.