Preparation of inflorescence-like ACNF/PANI/NiO composite with three-dimension nanostructure for high performance supercapacitors

Abstract In this work, we demonstrate a facile and universal approach to fabricate the ACNF/PANI/NiO ternary composite as electrode materials for supercapacitors through the combination of electrostatic spinning, carbonization and in-situ polymerization methods. By utilizing electrospun NiO-incorperated PAN-based activated carbon nanofibers (ACNF) as carbon-based template, compact three-dimensional (3D) conductive nanofiber network structures are constructed with PANI nanoparticles densely coated on the activated carbon nanofibers, contribute to enhancing electrical conductivity and rapid electron transport during the charge-discharge processes. The deposited PANI in the ACNF/PANI/NiO composite all possesses well-organized uniformity on the NiO incorperated ACNF, producing myriads of open, hierarchical inflorescence-like nanoflakes, which not only increase the specific surface area of the composite but also promote the surface redox reaction of electrode and electrolyte solution. As a consequence, the ACNF/PANI/NiO-0.3 composite exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1157 F·g − 1 at 1 A·g − 1 , and it still maintains 720 F·g − 1 at a high loading current density of 10 A·g − 1 . Besides, the ACNF/PANI/NiO-0.3 composite retains 93.89% of the original capacity after 5000 continuous charge-discharge cycles at 10 A·g − 1 , exhibiting outstanding cycle stability. In addition, an asymmetric supercapacitor fabricated with ACNF/PANI/NiO-0.3 composite demonstrated excellent energy density of 20.14 Wh·kg − 1 at a power density of 102.67 W·kg − 1 .