Energy lithium-polyaniline batteries

For improving the energy storage efficiency, ECP/CNM nanocomposites are widely used in electrochemical energy storage devices. These include lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Polyaniline/CNM nanocomposites and polypyrrole/CNM nanocomposites are the major composite nanostructures used for this piupose due to their superior electrochemical properties, low cost and easy processing methods. 

Recently, new types of organic positives, formed by a mixture of dimercaptan with polyaniline, have been reported. These composite materials appear to have an energy density higher than that of most inorganic intercalation oxides and good cyclability. However, use of these materials in practical rechargeable lithium batteries has still to be confirmed. 

A major goal of the research on conducting polymers has been the development of a rechargeable plastic battery. Cells based on polypyrrole and lithium electrodes have been developed in which the energy per unit mass and discharge characteristics are comparable to nickel-cadmium cells. Current interest appears to center around stable, processable polymers, such as polythiophene and its derivatives, and polyaniline. 

Oyama, N., Tktsuma, T., Sato, T., Sotomura, X, 1995. Dimercaptan-polyaniline composite electrodes for lithium batteries with high energy density. Nature 373,598-600. 

Self-doped polyanilines are advantageous due to properties such as solubility, pH independence, redox activity and conductivity. These properties make them more promising in various applications such as energy conversion devices, sensors, electrochromic devices, etc. (see Chapter 1, section 1.6). Several studies have focused on the preparation of self-doped polyaniline nanostructures (i.e., nanoparticles, nanofibers, nanofilms, nanocomposites, etc.) and their applications. Buttry and Tor-resi et al. [51, 244, 245] prepared the nanocomposites from self-doped polyaniline, poly(N-propane sulfonic acid, aniline) and V2O5 for Li secondary battery cathodes. The self-doped polyaniline was used instead of conventional polyaniline to minimize the anion participation in the charge-discharge process and maximize the transport number of Li". In lithium batteries, it is desirable that only lithium cations intercalate into the cathode, because this leads to the use of small amounts of electrolyte... 

Polymers. Electronically conductive polymers may also be used as cathode materials in rechargeable lithium batteries. The most popular polymers are polyacetylene, polypyrrole, polyaniline, and polythiophene, which are made conductive by doping with suitable anions. The discharge-charge process is a redox reaction in the polymer. The low specific energy, high cost, and their instability, however, make these polymers less attractive. They have been used in small coin-type batteries with a lithium-aluminum alloy as the anode. 

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