Hierarchical porous polyaniline–silsesquioxane conjugated hybrids with enhanced electrochemical capacitance

Abstract

We prepared multi-armed polyaniline–silsesquioxane conjugates (PANI–SQ) with hierarchical porous structure by introducing various amounts of octa-aminophenylsilsesquioxane (OASQ). A rapid-mixing-dilute polymerization reaction was used to synthesize PANI–SQ. PANI–SQ conjugates were characterized by a set of methods, including FTIR, UV-vis, N₂ adsorption measurement, wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD), TEM and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). These conjugates exhibited a high surface area (122.69 m² g⁻¹) and an average pore width of 1.6 nm, which was significantly lower than that of the pure PANI (29.1 nm). By increasing the mass of OASQ, a decrease in crystallinity and in electrical conductivity can be observed. For PANI–SQ conjugates, FE-SEM and TEM images revealed that interconnected porous nanofiber networks have been formed with a nanofiber diameter of 10–30 nm because of the incorporation of OASQ onto the skeleton. The as-synthesized PANI–SQ conjugate exhibited excellent specific capacitance and stability, suggesting its potential use as electrode material.