A Long-Cycle-Life Self-Doped Polyaniline Cathode for Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc Batteries

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are promising energy-storage systems for grid applications. Highly conductive polyaniline (PANI) is a potential cathode, but it tends to deactivate in electrolytes with low acidity (i.e. pH >1) owing to deprotonation of the polymer. In this study, we synthesized a sulfo-self-doped PANI electrode by a facile electrochemical copolymerization process. The -SO₃ ^- self-dopant functions as an internal proton reservoir to ensure a highly acidic local environment and facilitate the redox process in the weakly acidic ZnSO₄ electrolyte. In a full zinc cell, the self-doped PANI cathode provided a high capacity of 180 mAh g^-1 , excellent rate performance of 70 % capacity retention with a 50-fold current-density increase, and a long cycle life of over 2000 cycles with coulombic efficiency close to 100 %. Our study opens a door for the use of conducting polymers as cathode materials for high-performance rechargeable zinc batteries.