Sandeep Chauhan
Abstract
With increasing demand of energy, the need of efficient energy devices has increased faster than ever before. Moreover rapid consumption of fossil fuel as form of coal, oil, natural gas etc. has necessitated the use of cleaner and renewable sources of energy. At present, the devices based on renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind energies are extensively being developed. Supercapacitors have emerged as potential devices for the next generation of energy storage and are at the forefront of research on energy storage technology. They have great potential not only of fulfilling the portable energy requirements of the next generation but also can help to optimize energy consumption by complementing batteries in a variety of applications. To replace the conventional batteries, supercapacitors should be cost effective with high energy densities and must have long cycle life as compared to conventional batteries. Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most important conducting polymers because of its unique electrical properties. Use of PANI as electrode materials for supercapacitors has attracted the attention of many researchers owing to their low cost, flexibility, high conductivity in doped states, ease of synthesis, tunable properties, good environmental and thermal stability and simple doping/dedoping chemistry. However, many limitations including poor cycling capability during charge/discharge processes, the large volumetric swelling and shrinking during doping and dedoping and poor life time have restricted the use of pristine PANI as electrode material for supercapacitors. These limitations can be overcome by forming composites between the carbon nanomaterials and PANI.