Electrochemical Synthesis of Polyaniline Nanobelts with Predominant Electrochemical Performances

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) as one of most promising conducting polymers has attracted much attention because of its low cost, superior electrochemical performance, distinguishable electrical properties, mechanical flexibility, and relative ease of processing. In this article, we explored a novel route to prepare PANI nanobelts directly onto conducting substrates by electrodeposition, which represents a facile synthetic method for the synthesis of high quality samples with excellent electrical contact to a substrate, which is critical for further supercapacitor testing. The products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. These prepared PANI nanobelts were found to have a large surface area, which promotes remarkable enhancement in the performance of supercapacitors. The PANI electrodes composed of nanobelts showed a high specific capacitance (SC) value of 873 Fg¹⁻ at 10 mVs⁻¹ and high stability over 1000 cycles. The results of electrochemical measurements show that these PANI nanobelts have a potential application as high-performance supercapacitor electrode material.