Synthesis of Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline Composites for Hydrogen Storage

In the present work, we synthesized graphene oxide/polyaniline (GO-PANI) composites using in situ chemical oxidative polymerization method and investigate their hydrogen storage properties. The morphological and structural properties of synthesized composites have been studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman Spectroscopy. SEM images showed the uneven granular shaped structure of GO-PANI composite, where polyaniline (PANI) wrapped smoothly on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) flakes. The characteristic peaks appeared in XRD and Raman spectrum clearly revealed the structural phase and chemical identity of the composite. The hydrogen adsorption capacity of PANI, GO-PANI and GO composite was determined at room temperature and observed to be 0.47, 0.80 and 1.90 wt.% respectively. The low storage density for GO-PANI nanocomposite might be due to the PANI matrix which wrapped on the surface of graphene oxide. This results in the reduction of reactive surface area, porosity and interrupts functional group with aniline molecules and reduces the interlayer distance. Whereas, for graphene oxide, functional groups work as spacer in between graphene layers which, in turn, increase the interlayer distance to enhance storage density.