Electrochemical analysis of conducting reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers as supercapacitor electrodes

Supercapacitor is a promising electrochemical energy-storage device, which has the advantage of good cycle stability, short charging time, and high power density, so it has broad application prospects. Electrode as a core component has an important influence on the specific capacitance and performance of the supercapacitor. In this study, a series of reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol (RGO/PANI/PVA) nanofibers with different RGO concentrations were synthesized by electrospinning method and then studied as electrode materials for supercapacitors. The experimental result reveals that the PANI/PVA nanofiber shows the pseudocapacitance properties, while the RGO/PANI/PVA nanofibers exhibit the electrochemical properties of the double-layer capacitor. In addition, the RGO/PANI/PVA nanofibers have a uniform diameter distribution of 119.8 nm without beads and droplets sticking when the concentration of RGO is 0.2%. This morphology contributes to a large specific surface area of fibers and provides sufficient channels for the transport of ions. RGO/PANI/PVA nanofibers exhibit better specific capacitance of 174 F/g when compared with the PANI/PVA (105 F/g). The research indicates that RGO/PANI/PVA nanofibers with high specific capacitance can provide a promising application as supercapacitor electrodes.