Electrochemical Supercapacitors

Abstract

A new class of electrochem. capacitors, esp. for energy storage, provides in its charged state a pos. electrode including a p-doped active material and a neg. electrode including an n-doped conducting polymer as an active material, where the p-doped and n-doped materials are sepd. by an electrolyte. In a preferred embodiment, the pos. and neg. electrode active materials are selected from conducting polymers consisting of polythiophene, polymers having an aryl group attached in the 3-position, polymers having aryl and alkyl groups independently attached in the 3- and 4-positions, and polymers synthesized from bridged dimers having polythiophene as the backbone. A preferred electrolyte is a tetraalkyl NH4+ salt, such as Me4N+ trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMATFMS), that provides small ions that are mobile through the active material, is sol. in MeCN, and can be used in a variety of capacitor configurations.