Nafion doped polyaniline/graphene oxide composites as electrode materials for high performance flexible supercapacitors based on Nafion membrane.

[Display omitted] • Nafion doped polyaniline/graphene oxide composites are synthesized for the first time and used as the electrode materials of supercapacitors. • Polyaniline utilization rate and electrochemical surface area are improved by Nafion doping in the Nafion membrane-based supercapacitors. • Graphene oxide can enhance the electrochemical stability of polyaniline in the Nafion doped polyaniline/graphene oxide composites. • Flexible supercapacitor shows 300F g−1 at bent condition, which is the maximum value among reported Nafion membrane-based supercapacitors. • After 1000 cycles, the capacitance retention rate of the composites is 83.0%, which is higher than that of Nafion doped polyaniline (72.1%). Nafion membrane possesses good ionic conductivity and excellent mechanical stability, which can be used as electrolyte and separator of flexible supercapacitor. However, due to its solid-state structure, it is difficult for the Nafion membrane to permeate in solid-state electrode, which reduces electrochemical surface area, and increases interface resistance. The electrode materials need to be carefully designed to solve the above issues. In this study, Nafion doped polyaniline/graphene oxide composites were designed and synthesized as electrode materials to fabricate flexible supercapacitors based on Nafion membrane. The polyaniline utilization rate and the electrochemical surface area are improved by Nafion doping. In addition, the electrostatic interaction between polyaniline and Nafion can reduce the interface resistance. Graphene oxide can enhance the polyaniline electrochemical stability. The specific capacitances of flexible supercapacitor are 309 and 300F g−1 under flat and bent conditions (at 1 A/g), respectively, which are the maximum values among reported Nafion membrane-based supercapacitors. After 1000 cycles, the capacitance retention rate of supercapacitor with Nafion membrane is 87.2%, which is higher than that with H 2 SO 4 electrolyte (83.0%). Therefore, the Nafion membrane-based flexible supercapacitor has widespread applications in electronic products because of its high performance and good cycling stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]