Three dimensional and porous network architecture based on polyaniline hollow nanofibers with high specific capacitance and outstanding cyclic stability for supercapacitor electrode materials

In order to resolve the bottleneck issue of polyaniline (PANI) electrode including low specific capacitance and poor cyclic stability, three dimensional (3D) and porous network architecture was constructed by polyaniline hollow nanofibers (PANI-HFs) prepared via facile chemical oxidative polymerization. The morphology, specific surface areas, and pore sizes, chemical structure and the crystallinity of the PANI-HFs were thoroughly analyzed by various measurements. The obtained PANI-HFs present 3D porous network structure, highly regular morphology of hollow nanofibers and large specific area, as benefits the electronic transport and ionic transfer. According to the electrochemical measurements, at the current density of 1 A g-1, the PANI-HFs achieved high specific capacitance of 290 F g-1 and superior cyclic stability with the capacitance retention of 83% even after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. On basis of the charge storage mechanism of the electrode proposed, the advantageous electrochemical performance results from the special architecture constructed by the PANI-HFs and the structure of hollow nanofibers. More importantly, as a breakthrough, the all-solid state symmetrical super-capacitors based on PANI-HFs lighted up the light emitting diode (LED) for the first time, as means significant perspective in the application of energy storage.