Polyaniline-Based Carbon for a Supercapacitor Electrode

Novel carbonmaterials containing heteroatoms (nitrogen and oxygen) were prepared by carbonizingH(2)SO(4)- doped polyaniline at different temperatures. The morphology, elemental composition, surface chemical composition, and surface area of the as. preparedsampleswere investigatedbyscanningelectronmicroscopy(SEM), elemental analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer. Emmett. Teller (BET) measurements. Electrochemical properties were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that the carbon prepared by carbonizing polyaniline at 800 degrees C has good electrochemical performance and its specific capacitance value is as high as 153 F.g(-1) under a current density of 0.5 A.g(-1), although it has a low specific surface area (325 m(2).g(-1)). The high specific capacitance of this carbon is believed to be due to its. proper proportion of heteroatoms (nitrogen and oxygen), which provide a large amount of pseudo. capacitance. This kind of carbon material can thus be used as a promising electrode material in supercapacitors.