Combined effect of organic-inorganic heterostructure to enhance electrochemical capacitance

An original hybrid, organic/inorganic, composite material with a unique shape nanostructures (NSs) are prepared and characterized. Nanopetals of nickel oxide (NiO-NPs) substrate is used to grow polyaniline (PANI) via electrochemical polymerization, allowing to obtain a quite peculiar nanohemispheres morphology (PANI-NHs). A unique combination of different hydrothermal and electrochemical techniques are used to grow these complex architectures at nanoscale. Electron microscopies (SEM and TEM) are used for the morphology analysis. XPS, PMIRRAS and Raman measurements were used for surface characterization. Along the experimental study, IR spectra are calculated for oligomers of leucoemeraldine and pernigraniline. By the present combination of chemical and physical characteristics at the nanoscale, the overall surface area of our hybrid composite material is greatly increased, thus enhancing the electrochemical activity of the single constituent's composition. Note that, the specific capacitance of the present NiO-NPs/PANI-NHs composite material is ~545F/g, which is higher than that of the individual starting materials. Thus, a dramatic improvement is obtained in the performance of energy storage with respect to the parental materials, as a nanoscale effect.