Bacterial Cellulose Nanofiber-Supported Polyaniline Nanocomposites with Flake-Shaped Morphology as Supercapacitor Electrodes

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofiber-supported polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites have been synthesized via in situ polymerization of aniline onto BC nanofibers scalfold. Optimized preparation conditions were employed to achieve higher conductivity. The resultant BC/PANI nanocomposites were fully characterized in terms of structure, morphology, and thermal stability. The flake-like morphology of BC/PANI nanocomposites was observed using a field-emission gun scanning electron microscope. By manipulating the ordered flake-type nanostructure, BC/PANI nanocomposites achieved outstanding electrical conductivity as high as 5.1 S/cm. The as-prepared BC/PANI nanocomposites demonstrated a mass-specific capacitance of 273 F/g at 0.2 A.g –1 current density in supercapacitor application, the highest value reported so far for polymer-supported PANI composites.