Controlled growth of whisker-like polyaniline on carbon nanofibers and their long cycle life for supercapacitors

Abstract

We report a facile and efficient method, via chemical polymerization of aniline in the presence of carbon nanofibers (CFs), to fabricate ordered whisker-like polyaniline/CFs nanocomposites. The morphology and microstructure of the obtained composites are characterized by FESEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman, XRD and UV-vis. As a result, PANI nanorods are vertically deposited on the wall of CFs. The composite had a high specific capacitance (427 F g⁻¹) and a super long cycle life (a retention ratio of 90% after 3000 cycles).