Electrochemical investigation of Fe₃O₄/TNT/PANI composites for enhanced supercapacitor applications

In this study, a hydrothermal method was employed to fabricate a composite incorporating iron oxide (Fe₃O₄), titanium dioxide nano tubes (TNT), and polyaniline (PANI). An extensive structural examination of the synthesized composite was carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy along with elemental mapping, and spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray diffraction. Galvanostatic charge/discharge and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were conducted to assess the electrochemical properties of the synthesized materials including Fe₃O₄, Fe₃O₄/TNT (FT), and Fe₃O₄/TNT/PANI (FTP). These findings indicate that the incorporation of FT and PANI results in an increase in specific capacitance, transitioning from Fe₃O₄, TNTs, and FT to the conductive polymer composite FTP. Currently, efforts are directed towards further developing the FTP device for potential use in supercapacitors. The CV analysis demonstrates that specific capacitance elevates with potential across various potential windows. Specific capacitance of FTP obtained to be 542 Fg⁻¹ at 2 mA. Although capacitance retention improves gradually over few cycles, it has not yet achieved the optimal stability required for supercapacitor applications. Future research will focus primarily on enhancing the stability and overall performance of the composite materials developed.