Claims
- 1. A method for producing an electrode comprising the steps of:
(a) electropolymerizing monomers on to a substrate in a polymerization solution comprising at least one electrolyte salt and a first solvent to form an electrochemically oxidizable and reducible polymer; (b) electrochemically conditioning said polymer so as to increase discharge efficiency and charge capacity of said conditioned polymer; (c) doping said conditioned polymer for a period of time sufficient to impart a non-neutral charge to said conditioned polymer thus forming a charged electrode in a doped state, wherein said charged electrode exhibits good charge capacity and reversibility in either the p-doped or n-doped state.
- 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said monomers are phenylene thienyl monomers.
- 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said phenylene thienyl monomers are at least one of the members selected from the group consisting of 1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-benzene, 1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2-fluorobenzene, 1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2,5-difluoro-phenylene, and (1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenylene.
- 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said phenylene thienyl monomers are 1,4-bis(2-thienyl)-2-fluorobenzene monomers.
- 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is a member selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, gold, silver, titanium, copper, stainless steel, and combinations thereof.
- 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is a member selected from the group consisting of carbon, graphite, conducting tin oxide and carbon-doped polyethylene.
- 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first electrolyte salt is a member selected from the group consisting of tetrabutylammonium hexafluoro phosphate, lithium tetrafluoroborate, tetraethylammonium tetrafluoborate, tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate, lithium perchlorate, tetrabutylammonium perchlorate, tetraethyl ammonium perchlorate, tetramethyl ammonium trifluoromethane sulfonate, and tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate.
- 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first electrolyte salt is tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate.
- 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first solvent comprises a propylene carbonate based solvent or a sulfolane based solvent.
- 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first solvent comprises sulfolane.
- 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said polymerization solution further comprises 0.25 M tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate in sulfolane.
- 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein said electrochemically conditioning further comprises the steps of:
(i) neutralizing said polymer; (ii) transferring said neutralized polymer from said polymerization solution into a clean solution comprising said first electrolyte salt and said first solvent; and (iii) electrically charging said clean solution at a potential close to the p-doping or n-doping scan limit of said polymer for a period of time until the current decreases to less than 10 μA cm−2.
- 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said first electrolyte salt and said first solvent are tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate and sulfolane, respectively.
- 14. The method according to claim 12, wherein said potential selected for said electrochemical conditioning is between about 100 mV to about 250 mV beyond the current peak of the n-doping or p-doping of said polymer.
- 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said doping further comprises:
(i) placing a first electrode and a second electrode, both first and second electrodes being formed from said conditioned polymer, into an electrolyte solution, said electrolyte solution comprising a second electrolyte salt and a second solvent; (ii) applying a positive potential of a voltage source to said first electrode; (iii) applying a negative potential of said voltage source to said second electrode; wherein said first electrode and said second electrode after doping have a net positive charge and a net negative charge, respectively.
- 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said second electrolyte salt and said second solvent are tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate and sulfolane, respectively.
- 17. A method of conditioning an electronically conducting polymer comprising:
(a) forming electrochemically oxidizable and reducible polymer in a polymerization solution, said polymer having a lower polymerization potential than p-doping peak; (b) neutralizing said polymer; (c) transferring said neutralized polymer from said polymerization solution into a clean solution comprising an electrolyte salt and a solvent; and (d) electrically charging said clean solution at a potential close to the p-doping or n-doping scan limit of said polymer for a period of time or until the current decreases to less than 10 μA cm−2 to form a conditioned electrically conducting polymer, wherein said conditioned electrically conducting polymer is suitable for use as an polymeric electrode, said electrode able to undergo multiple doping and undoping cycles with high cycling efficiency and chemical stability.
- 18. A method of conditioning an electronically conducting polymer according to claim 17, wherein said electrode exhibits less than 1% charge loss per cycle over a period of 10 cycles for p-doping and less than 2% charge loss per cycle over a period of 5 cycles for n-doping.
- 19. A method for producing an electrochemical storage cell comprising:
(a) forming a cathode electrode structure from an electronically conducting polymer, wherein the electronically conducting polymer comprises at least one phenylene-thienyl based polymer produced according to the method of claim 1;(b) forming an anode electrode structure; (c) formulating a polymer gel electrolyte comprising a polymer component, a salt, and an organic solvent or solvent mixture; (d) incorporating the polymer gel electrolyte between opposing surfaces of the cathode and anode electrode structures; and (e) combining the cathode electrode structure, anode electrode structure, and polymer gel electrolyte to produce the electrochemical storage cell.
- 20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said anode electrode structure is an electronically conducting polymer, wherein the electronically conducting polymer comprises at least one phenylene-thienyl based polymer produced according to the method of claim 1.
- 21. An electrochemical storage cell produced according to the method of claim 19.
- 22. An electrochemical storage cell produced according to the method of claim 20.
- 23. A battery comprising at least one of the electrochemical storage cells of claim 22.
- 24. An electrode comprising at least one phenylene-thienyl based polymer, wherein the at least one phenylene-thienyl based polymer is produced according to the method of claim 1.
Government Interests
[0001] The work that resulted in the subject invention was supported by Grant No. FA8002-96-C-03031 with the United States Department of the Air Force as the sponsoring government agency.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08961100 |
Oct 1997 |
US |
Child |
09227214 |
Jan 1999 |
US |