Facile charge transport and storage by a TEMPO-populated redox mediating polymer integrated with polyaniline as electrical conducting path

A copolymer of TEMPO- and aniline-substituted norbornene was prepared by ring-opening metathesis polymerization of the corresponding monomers. Electropolymerization of the pendant aniline groups in the copolymer gave a layer of polynorbornene populated with the redox-active TEMPO pendants, in which polyaniline chain was incorporated. Electroactivity of the TEMPO pendants throughout the layer and its excellent charging/discharging cyclability, in addition to the amorphous nature of the layer, suggested that the polyaniline chain was homogeneously dispersed in the layer and that each chain served as crosslinking moiety. The effect of the polyaniline chains was further enhanced when they were formed by in-situ electropolymerization of the aniline group in the preformed layer of the copolymer/polyaniline composite. The polyaniline chain served as a conducting path to reduce the charge-transfer resistance for redox mediation, which gave rise to an excellent rate performance for the charging/discharging process of the layer, compared with those for the composite layers of TEMPO-substituted polymers with polyaniline and other conductive additives prepared by the conventional grinding methods.