Ring-opening polymerization of nitroxide-substituted epoxide derivatives and their redox property

A nitroxide radical is electrochemically oxidized to the oxoammonium cation(p-type doping) and reduced to the nitroxide reversively. Based on this redox property, we have reported application of the nitroxide radical polymer to an electrode-active material. Epoxide derivatives bearing 2,2,6,6- tetramethylpipelidine-A/-oxyl were synthesized and polymerized by ring-opening polymerization. In this report, the obtained polymers were characterized by IR, elemental analysis, ESR and SQUID measurement. Redox property of these radical polymers was examined by cyclic voltammetry. The cycle performance during charging and discharging of the fabricated cell displayed a plateau voltage at 3.7 V, and no significant deterioration in the capacity was observed more than 100 cycles.