Electrochemical fabrication and capacitance of composite films of carbon nanotubes and polyaniline

Nanoporous composite films of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and polyaniline (PANI) were grown electrochemically on a platinum electrode with the aim to investigate the influence of the forming process, and thus the influence of the microstructure, on the capacitive performance of the composites. The constituents of the composite were deposited either simultaneously from acidic aqueous solutions containing both the CNTs and the monomer, or by PANI electrodeposition on an electrode already modified by adsorbed CNT coating. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were used to investigate the electrochemical properties of the composite films. The electrochemical response is significantly increased for the composite films in comparison with the pure polymer film. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the composite films consisted of nanoporous networks of CNTs coated with PANI. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.