Synthesis of polyaniline shell on nickel oxide nanoflake arrays for enhanced lithium ion storage

Abstract Developing conducting polymer/oxide composites are of great importance to construct advanced electrochemical devices. In this work, we report a successive electrodeposition methods to fabricate polyaniline (PANI) on nickel oxide (NiO) nanoflake forming composite core-shell arrays. A thin layer of PANI of ∼10 nm is successfully coated on the surface of NiO nanoflake core. High porosity and enhanced conductivity are obtained in this composite electrode. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the NiO/PANI core-shell arrays exhibit weaker polarization and better cycling performance as compared to the bare NiO film. The second discharge capacity of NiO/PANI composite arrays is about 780 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , higher than that of the bare NiO film (679 mAh g −1 ). The improvements of the electrochemical properties are attributed to the PANI, which forms a uniform conductive network leading to improved electrochemical performance.