Tunable control of the performance of aqueous-based electrochemical devices by post-polymerization functionalization
Cong, Shengyu; Chen, Junxin; Ding, Bowen; Lan, Liuyuan; Wang, Yazhou; Chen, Chaoyue; Li, Zhengke; Heeney, Martin; Yue, Wan
MATERIALS HORIZONS
2023
Functionalized polymeric mixed ionic–electronic conductors (PMIECs) are highly desired for the development of electrochemical applications, yet are hindered by the limited conventional synthesis techniques. Here, we propose a “graft-onto-polymer” synthesis strategy by post-polymerization functionalization (GOP-PPF) to prepare a family of PMIECs sharing the same backbone while functionalized with varying ethylene glycol (EG) compositions (two, four, and six EG repeating units). Unlike the typical procedure, GOP-PPF uses a nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction for the facile and versatile attachment of functional units to a pre-synthesized conjugated-polymer precursor. Importantly, these redox-active PMIECs are investigated as a platform for energy storage devices and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) in aqueous media. The ion diffusivity, charge mobility and charge-storage capacity can be significantly improved by optimizing the EG composition. Specifically, g2T2-gBT6 containing the highest EG density gives the highest charge-storage capacity exceeding 180 F g−1 among the polymer series, resulting from the improved ion diffusivity. Moreover, g2T2-gBT4 with four EG repeating units exhibits a superior performance compared to its two analogues in OECTs, associated with a high μC* up to 359 F V−1 cm−1 s−1, owing to the optimal balance between ionic–electronic coupling and charge mobility. Through the GOP-PPF, PMIECs can be tailored to access desirable performance metrics at the molecular level.