Electrochemical Synthesis of Iron Oxide-Polyaniline Composite Thin Film for Supercapacitor Electrode

The supercapacitive performance of iron oxide-polyaniline nanostructured composite thin film electrode was evaluated in 1 M Na2SO4 solution. The iron oxide thin film was synthesized by cathodic electrodeposition onto stainless steel substrate and polyaniline was further deposited onto iron oxide thin film by electropolymerization. The electrochemical properties of the nanostructured iron oxide-polyaniline composite thin film were studied using cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry and electrochemical impedance spectrometry techniques. The result showed that layer by layer nanostructured composite electrode exhibited a maximum specific capacitance of 422 F/gat scan rate of 5 mV/s and capacitance retaintivity of 88% after 500 cyclic voltammetry cycles at scan rate of 100 mV/s in 1 M Na2SO4 solution due to contribution from iron oxide and polyaniline. The electrochemical performance of nanostructured composite material recognizes the composite material as promising candidate for the potential application in energy storage devices with its novel structure characteristics.