Self-assembly of nanotubular polyaniline via surfactant for high-performance electrochemical supercapacitor

In this work, a high-performance nanotubular polyaniline was achieved by the self-assembly process, where the cationic surfactant acts as a self-degraded soft template. The nanotubular polyaniline not only exhibits high specific capacitance, low electron transfer resistance, but also presents excellent cycling stability. The specific capacitance of nanotubular polyaniline reaches a maximum of 426.9 F g⁻¹ at 0.5 A g⁻¹ and maintains the value as high as 288.0 F g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹, the cycling stability with capability retention 87.5% after 2000 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹. Meanwhile, the specific surface area of the nanotubular polyaniline samples is 55.0 m² g⁻¹ and electron transfer resistance is 1.04 Ω cm². Such excellent performance stems from the nanotubular structure, which facilitates the ion/electron transfer and effectively alleviates the agglomeration to guarantee a good permeability with the electrolyte.