Carbon nanotube (CNT) has been received much interest due to its unique structure, mechanical and electronic properties. Although activated CNT can enhance the specific capacitance, the effect is limited. Polyaniline (PANI) has good mechanical performance, environmental stability and reversible control of conductivity both by charge-transfer doping and protonation. So the CNT/PANI composite is an effective method to improve the performance of sample. It is well know that the composite morphology is closely with its electrochemical properties. The fibrous composite materials with the large surface area have been received much interest for their potential electrochemical performance. In this paper, the CNT/PANI composite was prepared by the Fe 3 O 4 as template. Firstly, the acyl chloride was grafted on the surface of the CNT by series of organic chemistry reactions and the CNT-COCl was got. Then, the CNT-COCl absorbed on the surface of the Fe 3 O 4 . After that, the CNT-COCl was reaction with aniline and got the CNT amide. Then, the aniline grafted on the CNT was polymerized to PANI by in-situ chemical polymerization. Finally, the cotton-shaped CNT/PANI composite was obtained. The obtained material was characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. And the cyclic voltammograms, galvanostatic charging/discharging and cycle life testing were used to tested electrochemical performances of the obtained composite. The results show that the obtained CNT/PANI composite had high specific capacitance of 144 F/g (in organic electrolyte), which is much more than those of the pure PANI (about 71 F/g). So it may be found that the composite material has good application prospects in super capacitor field.
The single carbon nanotube (CNT) has lots of important potential applications in many fields for its good electrical conductivity and mechanical property. But, single CNT is a nanometer material, and a powder from the macro point of view, which would hinder its applications. So there is need to CNT macro material. There are two ways to make the lots of single CNTs into macro materials: adding adhesive and without adhesive by other methods. Of course, adding adhesive can result in impurity. So the method without adhesive is a better way. But the way has no connections between the single CNTs and can result in that the obtained macro materials electrical conductivity and mechanical property are not as good as that of the single CNT. In order to resolve the problem, the authors firstly made the single CNTs into a macro material (CNT network precursor) via filtration method, and then grew new CNT between the close pristine single CNTs. The obtained macro material can have much better (ten times) electrical conductivity and mechanical property than those of the CNT network precursor. The obtained material and the CNT network precursor were both characterized by SEM, electrical conductivity testing and mechanical property testing.
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