Polymer ECPs

Electronically conducting polymers (ECPs) such as polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy) and po 1 y(3.4-cthy 1 cncdi oxyth iophcnc) (PEDOT) have been applied in supercapacitors, due to their excellent electrochemical properties and lower cost than other ECPs. We demonstrated that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) prepared by catalytic decomposition of acetylene in a solid solution are very effective conductivity additives in composite materials based on ECPs. In this paper, we show that a successful application of ECPs in supercapacitor technologies could be possible only in an asymmetric configuration, i.e. with electrodes of different nature. 

Electrically conductive polymer (ECP) blends—maximize performance at minimum levels of ECP incorporation. 

Electrochromic polymers (ECPs) materials exhibit a change in transmittance and/ or reflectance of electromagnetic radiation induced by an electrochemical oxidation-reduction reaction (called electrochromism) (Rosseinsky and Mortimer, 2001). The ECPs can be used as electrochromic displays, glasses, and even fabrics (Remmele et al., 2015). A certain set of properties, such as, desired absorption profile, easily accessible redox process and ease of processing are of essential importance for materials to serve as effective electrochromes (Dyer and Reynolds, 2007). 

ELECTRODES BASED ON ELECTRON-CONDUCTING POLYMERS (ECPs)... 

One of the achievements of electrochemistry in the past 20 years has been the development of electron-conducting polymers (ECPs). Electron conductivity of... 

Electrodes of various types are used in hybrid (asymmetric) supercapacitors (HSCs). For example, one of the electrodes is highly dispersed carbon, that is, a double-layer electrode, and the other electrode is a battery one or one of the electrodes is carbon and the other one is a pseudocapacitor, for example, based on electron-conducting polymer (ECP). The main advantage of HSCs as compared EDLCs is an increase in energy density because of the wider potential window. The main fault of HSCs, meanwhile, as compared to electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), is a decrease in cyclability following the limitations posed by the nondouble-layer electrode. 

The pseudocapacitance can also be provided by other pseudocapacitive materials such as some metal oxides and electrically conductive polymers (ECPs) that have much higher theoretical capacitance than carbon-based materials. These materials have been reviewed in detail elsewhere [89,90]. Although many materials have been reported to exhibit pseudocapacitive behavior, they are very sensitive to the type and pH of the electrolytes and few of them are suitable for application in strong acid electrolytes. As previously mentioned in Section 1.3.2, RUO2 is one of the most extensively studied pseudocapacitive materials in H2SO4 electrolytes. 

This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the new trends in the electrochemistry of electronically conducting polymers (ECPs) that appeared during the past decade. It is divided into three major sections corresponding to the main uses of electrochemistry in the field of conducting polymers electrosynthesis from specially designed monomers (Section 18.2), characterization of polymer films (Section 18.3), and investigation of related materials as modified electrodes for specific applications (Section 18.4). 

SCHEME 18.1 Mechanism of the first steps of the electrooxidation of electronically conducting polymers (ECPs). 

Charge transport in electrically conducting polymers (ECP) is related to the role of easily polarisable delocalised p-electrons, which determines the electrical properties of conducting polymers [75]. Changes in molecular structure due to the localisation of p-electrons and electronic repulsion between the polycations influence the operation of a conducting polymer micro-acutator [76]. 

In order to begin describing electrically conductive polymers, several definitions of conductive polymers must be presented. There are four major classes of conducting polymers filled polymers, ionically conducting polymers, charge-transfer polymers, and electrically conducting polymers (ECPs). 

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