Electrochemical analysis of Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline/Polyvinyl alcohol composite nanofibers for supercapacitor applications

High-performance energy-storage gadgets, including supercapacitors hold great capability for various applications, such as portable electronics, electric vehicles etc. Portable electronics industry necessitates the employment of energy storage devices with large energy and power densities. Supercapacitors require electrode materials having better morphology, surface area, and carrier mobility that provide high capacitance. In this work we concentrate on the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of a material suitable to be used as supercapacitor electrode. Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline/Polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers were obtained via electrospinning process. The crystalline structure and morphology of developed nanofibers have been illustrated using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The electrochemical performance of the PANI-PVA-GO composite nanofibers was investigated as a supercapacitor electrode material through Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) studies. The nanofibers comprising Graphene Oxide exhibited better specific capacitance than polymer nanofibers thereby providing a novel way for fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes. This manuscript also gives a comparison of specific capacitance achieved by different compositions of Graphene Oxide, Polymers and transition metals reported in previous works.