Fabrication of Poly(s-triazine-co-o-aminophenol) Conducting Polymer via Electropolymerization and Its Application in Aqueous Charge Storage

Abstract

Designing conducting polymers with novel structures is essential for electrochemical energy storage devices. Here, copolymers of s-triazine and o-aminophenol are electropolymerized from an aqueous solution onto a carbon cloth substrate using the galvanostatic method. The poly(s-triazine-co-o-aminophenol) (PT-co-oAP) is characterized, and its charge storage properties are investigated in 1 M H2SO4 and in 1 M ZnSO4. At 1 A g−1, the specific capacities of PT-co-oAP reach 101.3 mAh g−1 and 84.4 mAh g−1 in 1 M H2SO4 and in 1 M ZnSO4, respectively. The specific capacity of PT-co-oAP maintains 90.3% of its initial value after cycling at 10 A g−1 for 2000 cycles in 1 M H2SO4. The high specific capacity achieved originates from abundant surface active sites, facile ion diffusion, with optimized active site structure achieved by forming copolymer. The charge storage mechanism involves the redox processes of amino/imino groups and hydroxyl/carbonyl groups in the copolymer, together with the insertion of cations. Two electrode devices using two PT-co-oAP and aqueous 1 M H2SO4 are assembled, and the maximum energy density reaches 63 Wh kg−1 at 0.5 A g−1 with a power density of 540 W kg−1. The capacity retention of the device after 3000 cycles at 10 A g−1 reaches 81.2%.