One-step electrochemical synthesis of graphene/polyaniline composite film and its applications

This work describes a new one-step large-scale electrochemical synthesis of graphene/polyaniline (PANI) composite films using graphite oxide (GO) and aniline as the starting materials. The size of the film could be controlled by the area of indium tin oxide (ITO). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrum (UV-vis) results demonstrated that the graphene/PANI composite film was successfully synthesized. The obtained graphene/PANI composite film showed large specific area, high conductivity, good biocompatibility, and fast redox properties and had perfect layered and encapsulated structures. Electrochemical experiments indicated that the composite film had high performances and could be widely used in applied electrochemical fields. As a model, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was entrapped onto the film-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and used to construct a biosensor. The immobilized HRP showed a pair of well-defined redox peaks and high catalytic activity for the reduction of H₂O₂. Furthermore, the graphene/PANI composite film could be directly used as the supercapacitor electrode. The supercapacitor showed a high specific capacitance of 640 F g^-1 with a retention life of 90% after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. A new one-step electrochemical synthesis of graphene/polyaniline composite films was developed using graphite oxide and aniline as the starting materials. Horseradish peroxidase was entrapped onto the film-modified electrode and used to construct a H₂O₂ biosensor. A supercapacitor was also fabricated based on the composite film.