Electrochemical investigations of self-doped polyaniline nanofibers as a new electroactive material for high performance redox supercapacitor

Abstract Self-doped polyaniline (SDPA) nanofibers were deposited on platinum (Pt) electrode by reverse pulse voltammetric (RPV) method and their electrochemical performance was evaluated in an aqueous redox supercapacitor constituted as a two electrode cell in a weak acidic medium. Scanning electron micrographs clearly revealed the formation of nanofiber structures with diameters in range of 60–90 nm under optimum experimental conditions. Different electrochemical methods including galvanostatic charge–discharge (CD) experiments, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were carried out in order to investigate the applicability of the system as a redox supercapacitor. Based on the charge–discharge results obtained, the SDPA represented high specific capacitance, specific power and specific energy values of 480 F g−1, 436 W kg−1 and 9.40 Wh kg−1, respectively, at a current density of 5 mA cm−2. The present study introduces new nanofiber materials for electrochemical redox capacitors with advantages including low cost, long cycle-life and stable at low acidic solutions of pH 3.