Preparation of covalently bonded polyaniline nanofibers/carbon nanotubes supercapacitor electrode materials using interfacial polymerization approach

In this paper, the covalently bonded polyaniline (PANI) nanofiber/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) composites were synthesized via interfacial polymerization of aniline with para-phenylenediamine functionalized MWCNT at the interface of oil/water system. Owing to the diffusion-controlled growth process of PANI, PANI with uniform fiber structure were obtained. The morphology analysis showed that the diameter of PANI nanofiber decreased with the increasing of MWCNT loading amount. Impedance analysis showed that the charge-transfer resistances of the composites were reduced also with the increasing of MWCNT loading amount. The decreasing of charge-transfer resistances and change of morphology resulted in enhanced capacitive properties. Electrochemical tests showed that the specific capacitance of PANI, PANI/MWCNT-10% and PANI/MWCNT-20% were 405, 641 and 764 F·g-1, respectively. As comparison with pure PANI nanofiber, the specific capacitance of the composites increased by 58% and 88.6%, respectively.