Zinc ions doped poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) for high-performance supercapacitor

• Zn2+ doped PANMA is used as the electrode material for supercapacitors.
• The specific capacitance of Zn-PANMA is greatly improved due to introduction of Zn2+.
• Doping of Fe3+ and Cu2+ to PANMA leads to pseudo-protonation and oxidation of PANMA.
• Zn-PANMA exhibits good stability compared with other copolymer based supercapacitor.

A simple method to synthesize Zn2+ doped poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) (PANMA), Zn-PANMA, for supercapacitors is reported. Capacitive behaviors of the copolymer based supercapacitor in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte were examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and galvanostatic charge/discharge. The morphological characteristics of Zn-PANMA and PANMA doped with Fe3+ and Cu2+ were investigated by field emission scanning microscopy (FESEM), explaining the different capacitive behaviors of these transition metal ions doped PANMA. A specific capacitance of Zn-PANMA as high as 631 F g−1 was achieved at a current density of 0.5 A g−1, due to the enhancement of the electrochemical properties of the copolymer by Zn2+ doping. Moreover, the specific capacitance still remained 71.7% after cycling for 800 times, exhibiting a good cycling performance and structure stability of Zn-PANMA.

Zinc ions doped poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) for high-performance supercapacitor.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide