High-performance supercapacitor electrode based on a nanocomposite of polyaniline and chemically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets

摘要

In this study, MoS2 nanosheets were first prepared by exfoliating its bulk material in HCl/LiNO3 solution with a yield of 45%, and then a facile strategy was developed to synthesize polyaniline/MoS2 (PANI/MoS2) nanocomposite via in situ polymerization. Structural and morphological characterizations of MoS2 nanosheets and the nanocomposite were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray powder diffraction. The results of SEM illustrated that orderly sawtooth polyaniline (PANI) nanoarrays were formed on the surface of MoS2 nanosheets. The nanocomposite displayed good electrochemical performance as a supercapacitor electrode material. The specific capacitance reached 560 F/g at a current density of 1.0 A g(-1) in 1.0 M H2SO4 solution. Such good performance is because that the MoS2 nanosheets provided a highly electrolytic accessible surface area for redox-active PANI and a direct path for electrons.