Nanoarchitectonics of Conjugated Polymers in Supercapacitors Applications

Abstract

Conjugated polymers (CP) constitute nonexpensive stable building blocks for the construction of a variety of electrochemically active complex materials. Due to their particular electronic structure, they present as light metal-free conducting materials that can be prepared using soft chemical methods. This makes them immensely suitable for electrochemical nanoarchitectonics. Moreover, reversible redox changes in these materials allow their application as active components of charge storage devices. Further, they can be easily derivatized to produce tunable materials with enhanced properties. Furthermore, they can be combined with organic/inorganic nanomaterials to generate more efficient electrode materials.In this chapter, the underlying mechanism of action of supercapacitor is introduced. Thereafter, the advantages and challenges associated with the use of electroactive CPs for supercapacitance purposes are discussed. Finally, the potential of these materials is illustrated using a series of examples of electrochemical systems based on the integration of CPs and other building blocks using a variety of nanoarchitectonics strategies.