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Abstract

In the quest for high-performance materials tailored for flexible energy storage devices, the thermal stability and structural integrity of polymer-based composites are of paramount importance. This study presents a comparative analysis of the thermal properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based composites enhanced with graphene oxide (GO), polyaniline (PANI), and chitosan. Through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), we evaluated how the incorporation of different additives influences the decomposition behaviour, molecular interactions, and crystalline structure of the host polymer. The results revealed that binary and ternary composites such as PVA/GO, PANI/GO, PVA/CHITOSAN, PVA/GO/PANI, and PVA/GO/Chitosan exhibited significantly improved thermal stability compared to pure PVA or single-component systems. Notably, the PVA/GO/Chitosan composite demonstrated superior resistance to thermal degradation, attributed to strong hydrogen bonding and the synergistic barrier effects of GO. Meanwhile, the PVA/GO/PANI composite exhibited both thermal resilience and potential for enhanced electrochemical performance, making it a dual-functional candidate for flexible supercapacitors. This work underscores the critical role of additive selection in tailoring thermal and functional properties of polymer composites and introduces two novel formulations with promising applications in next-generation energy storage technologies.