Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-9697-5 Electrochemical properties of PANI/MoS 2 nanosheet composite as an electrode materials M. Maqsood 1  · Seemab Afzal 1  · Abdul Shakoor 1  · Niaz Ahmad Niaz 1  · Abdul Majid 2  · Najamal Hassan 3  · Hira Kanwal 1 Received: 8 April 2018 / Accepted: 17 July 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract We report a facile strategy to synthesize poly-aniline/molybdenum disulfde (PANI/MoS 2 ) nano-composite by in situ chemical polymerization to achieve excellent electrochemical properties for application as super-capacitor electrodes. MoS 2 nano- composite is prepared by a hydrothermal method and serves as an excellent 2D conductive skeleton and provides a direct path for electrons. The layered nanostructure of PANI/MoS 2 composites provides a larger contact surface area for the intercalation of particles into/out of active materials and shortens the path length for electrolyte ion transport. The structure morphology is characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and FTIR. Structural and morphological analysis reveals conformation composite formation, increase in crystallinity and particle size increased with doping by rapping of PANI on MOS 2 surface. Excellent electrochemical performances of the samples are characterised and are evaluated by cyclic voltammogram, impedance and galvanostatic charge/discharge curve. The maximum specifc capacitance of 453 F kg −1 at 1 Ag −1 is observed at the PANI- 1%MoS 2 electrodes. The energy density of 69 Wh kg −1 is obtained at a power density of 1380 W kg −1 , impedance decreased from 5 Ω (PANI) to 2 Ω (1%PANI/MoS 2 ) indicating a positive synergistic efect MoS 2 and PANI for the improvement of electrochemical performance. 1 Introduction A new energy storage device is super capacitor and the main comfort of this device is long service life, great power den- sity, green environmental shield and high energy density. It has drawn prominent attentiveness in the recent years [1]. Super capacitors take much energy/power effectiveness and higher specifc density (per unit mass) as compare to rechargeable batteries. In severe conditions it has longer life time and faster charge/discharge rate energy management, motors, starter, industrial power constructive braking system backup power supply, moveable electronics, instant switches etc. [2, 3] are wide spread applications. According to charge storage appliances [4] super capaci- tors can be divided into pseudo-capacitor and electrical double layer capacitor (EDLC) and accumulation of Ionic charges is the energy storage of EDLCs which arises at interface between electrolyte and electrode. For the pseudo- capacitor it is produced by the fast reversible faradic transi- tions of active materials e.g. conducting electric polymer and transition metal oxides between these materials in redox super capacitors poly aniline (PANI) is a potential electrode material due to its exclusive properties like high electro chemical activity, control able conductivity and low cost with the uncomplicated preparation [5, 6]. However due to temperature dependence and poor cycling stability is the dis- advantage of pure electrode of (PANI). Because backbone of polymer can be smashed with in a limited number of charge or discharge cycles redox sites in the polymer backbone or not enough stable. So prepare a composite from organic material and in-organic material (carbon materials, metal oxides) to make it hybridized and with good mechanical stability, cycle ability and specifc capacitance, it is used in super capacitors [7–9]. During the past decades layer transition-metal dichalco- genides (TMDs) such as MoS 2 , WS 2 and VS 2 etc. have been * Abdul Shakoor Shakoor_47@bzu.edu.pk 1 Department of Physics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan 2 Department of Physics, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan 3 Department of Physics, University of Hazara, Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan