Wei-Fu Ji

Synergistic effects of hydrophobicity and gas barrier properties on the anticorrosion property of PMMA nanocomposite coatings embedded with graphene nanosheets

In this paper, the surface of a PMMA/graphene nanocomposite (PGN) with biomimetic hydrophobic structures was first prepared by the nanocasting technique and applied in corrosion protection coatings. First of all, a transparent soft template with negative patterns of a Xanthosoma sagittifolium leaf can be fabricated by thermal curing of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) pre-polymer in molds at 60 °C for 4 h, followed by detaching the PDMS template from the surface of the natural leaf. Subsequently, PGN with a hydrophobic surface (HPGN) of the biomimetic natural leaf was fabricated, using PDMS as the negative template, through casting onto a cold rolled steel (CRS) electrode. The surface morphology of as-synthesized hydrophobic PMMA (HP) and PGN coatings was found to show lots of micro-scaled mastoids, each decorated with many nano-scaled wrinkles, which were investigated systematically by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The contact angle (CA) of a water droplet on the sample surface can be increased from ∼80° for the PMMA surface to ∼150° for HP and HPGN and the sliding angle (SA) decreased from ∼60° to 5°. The morphological studies of the dispersion capability of graphene nanosheets (GNSs) in the polymer matrix can be carried out by observation under a transmission electron microscope (TEM). It should be noted that HPGN coating was found to reveal an advanced corrosion protection effect on the CRS electrode as compared to that of neat PMMA and HP coatings based on a series of electrochemical corrosion measurements in a 3.5 wt% NaCl electrolyte. The enhancement of corrosion protection of HPGN coatings on the CRS electrode could be interpreted by the following two possible reasons: (1) the hydrophobicity repelled the moisture and further reduced the water/corrosive media adsorption on the epoxy surface, preventing the underlying metals from corrosion attack, as evidenced by contact angle (wettability) measurements. (2) The well-dispersed GNSs embedded in the HPGN matrix could hinder corrosion due to their relatively higher aspect ratio than clay platelets, which further effectively enhance the oxygen barrier property of HPGN, as evidenced using a gas permeability analyzer (GPA).

Biotemplated hierarchical polyaniline composite electrodes with high performance for flexible supercapacitors

Highly flexible and foldable supercapacitor devices assembled using biotemplated polyaniline composite electrodes are described for the first time in this paper. This electrode architecture provides a facile fabrication route for creating abundant multiscale structures by using a rose flower design based on natural resources and facilitates designing a hierarchical ordering morphology that improves the redox exchange and ionic diffusion resistance between the electrodes and electrolyte. The polyaniline composite was prepared using a replica technique and synthesized through in situ oxidative polymerization by using aniline with reduced graphene oxide. The biotemplated electrodes show a high electrochemical specific capacitance of 626 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in a three-electrode system, an excellent mechanical strength for enduring Z-type folding, and high cycling stability with a capacity retention of 87% (545 F g−1). Furthermore, in cyclic voltammetry analysis, the prototype devices exhibit extraordinary elasticity without side reactions in various bending angles. Regarding electrochemical performance, the device responds with a high energy density of 5.06 W h kg−1 and a high power density of 1685 W kg−1 when based on composite thin film electrodes and maintains 85% cycling retention as well as electrode performance after 1000 cycles. This study clearly reveals that fabricating hierarchical polyaniline composite electrodes through biotemplating yields high electrochemical performance and flexibility, making the electrodes useful in energy storage devices for portable electronic products.

Structural and electrical characterization of polyanilines synthesized from chemical oxidative polymerization via doping/de-doping/re-doping processes

Structural characterization of various emeraldine salt (ES) and emeraldine base (EB) polyaniline (PANI) powders synthesized from chemical oxidative polymerization and then via de-doping and re-doping processes is first presented. Partial crystallinity with well-separated x-ray diffraction peaks is observed in the as-prepared ES PANI powder and an amorphous characteristic is identified in the de-doped EB PANI powder. From scanning electron microscopy, both the nanostructures of the as-prepared ES and de-doped EB PANI precipitated powders possess similar morphology. This finding reveals that the de-doping process to remove the counter-ions intercalated between the as-prepared ES PANI chains makes the de-doped EB PANI pieces become soft but does not change the nanostructures significantly. Then, the electrical conductivity perpendicular to the surface of the pressed PANI disc pellets is studied. The re-doped ES PANI pellets possess less electrical conductivity than their as-prepared counterparts, which suggests that during the re-doping process the counter-ions (Cl− or ) are re-adsorbed predominantly on the surface region of the PANI nanostructures. Besides, the re-doping of larger counter-ions (with respect to Cl−) intercalated between the PANI chains increases the d-spacing of (1 0 0) planes and hence reduces the corresponding π–π inter-chain interaction. Finally, from the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity together with the structural information, the charge carrier hopping mechanisms perpendicular to the surface of the pressed pellets corresponding to various PANI samples are compared and discussed.