In-situ Growth of Polyaniline Network Fibers on Carbon Film-Modified Conductive Glass and Its Electrochemical Properties

In this article, fluorine-doped tin dioxide (FTO) conductive glass was selected as the conductive support substrate, and glucose was used as the carbon source which was hydrothermal carbonized on the FTO conductive surface to form a carbon film (C@FTO) by hydrothermal method. Then, aniline monomers were oxidized and polymerized to form PANI network nanofibers (PANI@C@FTO) in an acidic solution with ammonium persulfate as a water-soluble initiator. The results show that the specific capacitance of PANI@C@FTO is 293 F/g at 1 A/g, respectively, and the loss of specific capacitance is 26.7% when the current density increased from 1 A/g to 5 A /g. It is caused by that the micro-nano structure of the PANI network facilitated electrolyte ions reached or leaved the surface of PANI network nanofibers fast, thereby exhibiting good rate performance. The capacitance retention of the PANI@C@FTO electrode is 57.4% after 1500 cycles. A possible reason is that the carbon film could act as a physical buffer layer to help inhibit the structural changing of PANI during the charge/discharge cycle, and maintain the mechanical and electrochemical stability.