Facile Synthesis of 4-Methylaniline Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline Composite for Supercapacitors

A promising material for supercapacitors based on 4-methylaniline reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline (GP) composite was successfully prepared through a facile one-pot synthesis route. During the preparation process, 4-methylaniline acted as a reducing agent for graphene oxide (GO) as well as a spacer for the resulting reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets. The characterization results reveal that GO was successfully reduced by 4-methylaniline and the RGO sheets covered by polyaniline (PANI) nanowires retain favorable dispersibility in the GP composite. The GP composite shows a high specific capacitance (530.4 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1) with a good cycling stability (87.61% retention after 3000 cycles). Moreover, the GP composite also delivers a good rate performance of 77.5% retention from 0.5 A g−1 to 20 A g−1, but for the graphene oxide/polyaniline (GOP) composite and pure PANI, the retentions are only 47.2% and 28.9%, respectively.