Preparation and electrochemical characterization of carbon dots/polyaniline composite materials

Conductive polymers have emerged as a kind of promising electrode material for supercapacitor due to their unique structure, large theoretical specific capacitance, good electrical conductivity, environmental stability, and low cost. Carbon dots (CDs) have been demonstrated to effectively promote fast charge tunneling in optoelectronic devices. To improve the capacitance characteristics of PANI, in this paper, we report the preparation of CDs/polyaniline (CDs/PANI) composites by in situ polymerization of aniline in the presence of CDs. The composite materials have been extensively characterized by using XRD, FTIR, UV/Vis, SEM, and TEM, with results clearly indicating the successful incorporation of CDs into PANI polymers. Electrochemical characterization proves that the addition of CDs into PANI notably enhances the specific capacitance of PANI-based electrodes. Particularly, 6 wt% of CDs shows the greatest enhancement on specific capacitance, which has an average value of 1070 F/g compared to 460 F/g of pure PANI in three-electrode testing. Our findings provide valuable clues for future design and fabrication of electrode using conductive polymers.