Intercalation polymer electrode similarities

Further information on this subject can be obtained by frequency response analysis and this technique has proved to be very valuable for studying the kinetics of polymer electrodes. Initially, it has been shown that the overall impedance response of polymer electrodes generally resembles that of intercalation electrodes, such as TiS2 and WO3 (Ho, Raistrick and Huggins, 1980 Naoi, Ueyama, Osaka and Smyrl, 1990). On the other hand this was to be expected since polymer and intercalation electrodes both undergo somewhat similar electrochemical redox reactions, which include the diffusion of ions in the bulk of the host structures. One aspect of this conclusion is that the impedance response of polymer electrodes may be interpreted on the basis of electrical circuits which are representative of the intercalation electrodes, such as the Randles circuit illustrated in Fig. 9.13. The figure also illustrates the idealised response of this circuit in the complex impedance jZ"-Z ) plane. 

As our quantum-chemical calculations show, similar transformation and delocalization of bonds takes place in the conductive forms of some other types of CPs (polyaniline, polypyrolle, etc.). Delocalization of chemical bonds after activation leads to appearance of an electronic conductivity in such types of conducting polymers and creates prerequisites for their application as electrode materials of electrochemical power sources. Such activation can be stimulated by intercalation of ions, applying the potential, and by use of some other low energetic factors. 

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