Electrodeposited Poly(5‐Amino‐2‐Naphthalenesulfonic Acid‐co‐o‐Aminophenol) as the Electrode Material for Flexible Supercapacitor

Abstract

AbstractCopolymers of 5‐amino‐2‐naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) and o‐aminophenol (oAP) are electropolymerized on carbon cloth substrate from aqueous solutions, and the electropolymerization process is investigated using electrochemical quartz‐crystal microbalance. The surface of the copolymer (PANS‐co‐oAP) appears rough and is capable to store charge as the battery‐type electrode in 1 m H2SO4 (102.9 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1) or in 1 m ZnSO4 (79.75 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1) aqueous solutions. Compared with PANS and PoAP, the high specific capacity of the PANS‐co‐oAP is originated from the increased number of electrochemically active sites and increased diffusion rates of ions. Evidence of amino/imino and hydroxyl/carbonyl groups redox processes and cation insertion and extraction are given by ex situ X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When used as the electrode material in the flexible solid‐state supercapacitors, the specific capacitance is at 37.9 F g−1 which does not significantly alter with the bending angle. The flexible solid‐state supercapacitor shows a specific energy of 5.4 Wh kg−1 and a power density of 250.3 W kg−1 at 0.5 A g−1, and a high capacitance retention (88.2%) after 3000 cycles at 5 A g−1 is achieved.