Synthesis of mesoporous carbon-polymeric hybrid material for energy storage application

The overarching goal of this study is fabrication and evaluation of mesoporous carbon-polymeric hybrid electrode materials derived by in situ polymerization of aniline on mesoporous carbon. The mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) was prepared using mesoporous silica SBA-15 as a hard template. The characteristics and functional groups of synthesized mesoporous carbon-polyaniline composite confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Thermo gravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, and BET surface area analysis. The electrochemical performance of carbon-polyaniline composite was evaluated through its supercapacitor behavior in the electrolyte Potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3). Synthesized carbon-polyaniline was used as the working electrode after modification with Nafion solution on glassy carbon electrode. The hybrid material reveals high current density with increased storage efficiency due to uniform confinement of polyaniline into the pore structure of CMK-3. The high specific capacitance of 487 F/g was observed on carbon-polyaniline electrode at 0.2 A/g in KHCO3, and also reveals better stability, retained 90% efficiency after 1000 charge–discharge cycles. Thus, the prepared carbon-polyaniline composite exhibit as a good candidate in supercapacitor application.