Conducting Redox Polymer as a Robust Organic Electrode-Active Material in Acidic Aqueous Electrolyte towards Polymer–Air Secondary Batteries

Organic materials receive increasing attention as environmentally benign and sustainable electrode-active materials. We present a conducting redox polymer (CRP) based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) with naphthoquinone pendant group, which is formed from a stable suspension of a trimeric precursor and an oxoammonium cation as oxidant. This suspension allows us to easily coat the polymer onto a current collector, opening up use of roll-to-roll processing or ink-jet printing for electrode preparation. The CRP showed a full capacity of 76 mAh g⁻¹ even at a high C rate of 100 C in acidic aqueous electrolyte. These properties make the CRP a promising candidate as anode-active material; a polymer–air secondary battery was fabricated with the CRP as anode, a conventional Pt/C catalyst as cathode, and sulfuric acid aqueous solution as electrolyte. This battery yielded a discharge voltage of 0.50 V and showed good cycling stability with 97 % capacity retention after 100 cycles and high rate capabilities up to 20 C.