Electrodeposition of Ag nanoparticles on conductive polyaniline/cellulose aerogels with increased synergistic effect for energy storage

In many revolutions of the cellulose based conductive materials, the most significant one was the developed material could be either directly used as a working electrode or used as the underlying substrate for the electrochemical deposition metal electrodes. In this work, an in situ polymerization of aniline monomer onto the porous structured cellulose scaffolds has been carried out, and then electrodeposition of Ag nanoparticles on the obtained conductive composites directly by using it as electrode. The Ag nanoparticles were deposited homogeneously on the matrix of polyaniline (PANI)/cellulose gels. The conductivity of PANI/cellulose nanocomposite gels containing Ag nanoparticles was increased to 0.94 S C m⁻¹, which was higher than that of pure PANI/cellulose composites (3.45 × 10⁻² S C m⁻¹). Furthermore, it could be used as electrode for the supercapacitors, and the highest specific capacitance of the cellulose/PANI/Ag aerogels was 217 F g⁻¹. This approach offered a facile method for improving the electronic conductivity of native polymer nanohybrids, and suggested a new strategy for fabricating nanostructured polymer nanohybrids for application in energy storage.