Electropolymerization of s-Triazines and Their Charge Storage Performance in Aqueous Acidic Electrolytes

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• High-performance aqueous energy storage devices require conductive polymers with redox-active groups.
• Electropolymerization is a key technique for synthesizing conductive polymers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To electropolymerize s-triazine in aqueous acidic solution for the first time.
• To investigate the charge storage performance of the resulting polytriazine-coated carbon cloth (PT/CC) electrodes.
• To evaluate a symmetric aqueous charge storage device based on PT/CC electrodes.

Main Methods:

• Electropolymerization of s-triazine on carbon cloth in aqueous acidic solution.
• Characterization of the PT/CC electrode structure and morphology.
• Electrochemical performance testing in 1 M H2SO4 and 1 M ZnSO4 electrolytes.
• Assembly and cycling of a symmetric aqueous charge storage device.

Main Results:

• The PT/CC electrode exhibited a granular, porous structure.
• A specific capacity of 101.4 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 was achieved in 1 M H2SO4.
• A specific capacity of 50.3 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 was achieved in 1 M ZnSO4.
• The device demonstrated an energy density of 12.92 Wh kg-1 and retained 83.3% capacity after 2500 cycles at 10 A g-1.

Conclusions:

• Polytriazine (PT) is a viable battery-type electrode material for aqueous energy storage.
• Amino/imino and carbonyl/hydroxyl groups contribute to charge storage via cation insertion/extraction.
• The developed PT/CC electrodes and devices show potential for practical applications.