Self-Assembled Graphene/Polyaniline/Co₃O₄ Ternary Hybrid Aerogels for Supercapacitors

A novel three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene/polyaniline/Co₃O₄ (GPC) ternary hybrid aerogels is firstly fabricated via self-assembly of graphene oxide/polyaniline (GO/PANI) by in situ polymerization and GO/cobalt salts hybrid sols through hydrothermal treatment. The prepared ternary hybrid aerogels features an interconnected 3D macroporous structure in which PANI/Co₃O₄ nanoparticles (PANI/Co₃O₄ NPs) with a diameter ∼ 20 nm uniformly distributed on the surface of graphene nanosheets (GNs), and possesses an excellent performance with high specific capacitance of 1247 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ and the capability can reach to 755 F g⁻¹ even at 20 A g⁻¹. Furthermore, no obvious capacitance loss is observed during 3500 cycles, indicating an outstanding cycling stability. The extraordinary electrochemical performance of the 3D GPC hybrid can be attributed to not only the high capacitance of PANI and Co₃O₄ with pseudocapacitive, but also the strong synergistic effect between the uniformly dispersed PANI/Co₃O₄ NPs and graphene aerogel, in which a powerful 3D porous structure with short diffusion path length for fast electron transportation.