Synthesis of B doped graphene/polyaniline hybrids for high-performance supercapacitor application

The present work emphasizes improvement on the electrochemical properties of polyaniline/B doped graphene (PANI/BG) hybrid composite. The structure, morphology and electrochemical properties of the hybrid composite were characterized by XRD, Raman, FTIR, XPS, FESEM, HRTEM, cyclic voltammetry, electrical impedance spectroscopy and charge–discharge test respectively. The electrochemical results revealed that the resultant PANI/BG hybrid composite showed an enhancement in electrochemical properties. The calculated specific capacitance of the PANI/BG hybrid composite in a three-electrode system was about 1134 F g⁻¹ in 1 M H₂SO₄ at 1 mV s⁻¹ while 306 F g⁻¹ of BG and 400 F g⁻¹ of PANI. The PANI/BG showed greater cycling stability because the capacitance remains as high as 89% even after 5000 charging–discharging cycles at a rate of 1 A g⁻¹ (60% for PANI and 86% for BG). The improved electrochemical performance of the composite is due to the BG which tailors the electronic properties of the graphene with a combination of pseudocapacitive conducting PANI.