The influence of inorganic dopants on the electrochemical performance of polyaniline-based composites

The study investigates the influence of different inorganic acid dopants on the electrochemical performance of polyaniline/reduced graphene oxide (PANI/rGO) nanocomposite supercapacitor electrode. The nanocomposites were synthesized by in-situ oxidation of aniline using ammonium persulfate (APS) as the oxidizing agent in different inorganic acids. The electrochemical performance of the electrodes fabricated using different acid-doped PANI/rGO nanocomposites was characterized in 1 M NaSO4 electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) test. The HCl-doped PANI/rGO electrode delivered the maximum specific capacitance of 207 Fg-1 at a current density of 0.2 Ag-1, which shows the high efficiency of the material. The HNO3-doped PANI/rGO electrode gave the least capacitance of 50.3 Fg-1 at the same current density. The structural analysis was done by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR).