High specific capacitance conducting polymer supercapacitor electrodes based on poly(tris(thiophenylphenyl)amine)

Abstract

Supercapacitors have emerged as attractive energy storage devices for systems requiring rapid charge-discharge cycles and high power densities. Progress in conducting polymer research for this application has shown tremendous promise due to the polymers' tendency to form highly porous films and exhibit reversible redox activity. In this Communication, we present a new triarylamine-thiophene hybrid conducting polymer for charge storage, poly(tris(4-(thiophen-2-yl)phenyl)amine) (pTTPA), which can be electrochemically deposited into highly porous films or templated nanotubular structures. pTTPA represents the first dendritic polymeric material incorporated in supercapacitor electrodes yielding a remarkably high peak capacitance of 950 ± 49 F/g in 100 mM tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile. Our versatile platform design opens the door to new synthetic opportunities for electrical energy storage polymers.