A hybrid electrochemical–chemical synthesis of a polyaniline film on a Au electrode

Abstract

A new hybrid electrochemical–chemical (E–C) method was employed to synthesize polyaniline (PANI) on a Au electrode surface. The E–C synthesis involves two steps: (1) electrochemical oxidation of gold to gold oxide; (2) chemical reduction of gold oxide with aniline leading to the simultaneous oxidative polymerization of aniline to PANI on the Au surface. Cyclic voltammetry and UV-visible absorption results confirmed the synthesis of PANI. The E–C synthesized PANI on the Au electrode (PANI/Au) showed an ideal pseudocapacitive behaviour, a good rate ability, fast faradaic reactions and a reduced diffusion path for counterion influx and outflux. PANI/Au showed a high specific capacitance of about 3241 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 8 A g⁻¹, but the stability of the PANI film on Au is poor.