Assembly of ordered polyaniline-graphene hybrid nanomaterials based on poly(2-methoxyaniline-5-sulfonic acid) functionalized graphene nanosheets

Nanostructure of ordered polyaniline-graphene (PANI-rGO(PMAS)) hybrid nanomaterials is assembled based on poly(2-methoxyaniline-5-sulfonic acid) (PMAS) functionalized reduced graphene oxide (rGO(PMAS)) nanosheets. The presence of PMAS not only improves dispersibility of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets, but also plays a key role for heterogeneous nucleation of polyaniline (PANI) nanorods. The formation mechanism of ordered PANI-rGO(PMAS) hybrid nanomaterials was studied in details by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-vis). The conductivity of PANI-rGO(PMAS) hybrid with 17 wt% rGO(PMAS) is as high as 4480 S/m, compared with 2.93 S/m for pure PANI. The cyclic voltammetry tests indicate that, PANI-rGO(PMAS) containing 2 wt% rGO(PMAS) possesses fast response to redox reactions and excellent reversible stability. It has a high specific capacitance of 385 Fg(-1) at the scan rate of 10 mV s(-1) with potential ranges from -0.2 to 0.8 V. This ordered polyaniline-graphene hybrid has potential applications for flexible supercapacitors, sensors, batteries, electromagnetic materials and thermoelectric materials, etc. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.