Superacid-doped polyaniline as a soluble polymeric active electrolyte for supercapacitors

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Polyaniline offers high pseudocapacitance and stability for supercapacitors.
• A key challenge is improving polyaniline's solubility in electrolytes.
• Degradation from volume changes and hydrolysis limits polyaniline supercapacitor performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a soluble polyaniline-based active electrolyte for supercapacitors.
• To enhance supercapacitor performance and cycle stability.
• To overcome polyaniline solubility and degradation issues.

Main Methods:

• Protonating polyaniline with trifluoromethyl sulfonic acid in N-methylpyrrolidone.
• Preparing a soluble polyaniline-trifluoromethyl sulfonic acid-N-methylpyrrolidone electrolyte system.
• Fabricating supercapacitors using the active electrolyte and reduced graphene oxide electrodes.

Main Results:

• Spectroscopic and electrochemical data confirmed increased solubility of doped polyaniline due to weak interactions.
• The supercapacitor demonstrated higher specific capacitance compared to electric double-layer devices.
• 100% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles was achieved, indicating excellent cycle stability.

Conclusions:

• Directly using conductive polymers as active electrolytes in supercapacitors is feasible.
• The developed system overcomes polyaniline degradation issues, enabling high cycle stability.
• This approach presents a promising strategy for advanced supercapacitor design.