This work describes the facile designing of three conjugated microporous polymers incorporated based on the ferrocene (FC) unit with 1,4-bis(4,6-diamino-s-triazin-2-yl)benzene (PDAT), tris(4-aminophenyl)amine (TPA-NH2), and tetrakis(4-aminophenyl)ethane (TPE-NH2) to form PDAT-FC, TPA-FC, and TPE-FC CMPs from Schiff base reaction of 1,1'-diacetylferrocene monomer with these three aryl amines, respectively, for efficient supercapacitor electrodes. PDAT-FC and TPA-FC CMPs samples featured higher surface area values of approximately 502 and 701 m2 g-1, in addition to their possession of both micropores and mesopores. In particular, the TPA-FC CMP electrode achieved more extended discharge time compared with the other two FC CMPs, demonstrating good capacitive performance with a specific capacitance of 129 F g-1 and capacitance retention value of 96% next 5000 cycles. This feature of TPA-FC CMP is attributed to the presence of redox-active triphenylamine and ferrocene units in its backbone, in addition to a high surface area and good porosity that facilitates the redox process and provides rapid kinetics.
Keywords: Schiff-base reaction; conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs); energy storage; ferrocene; triphenylamine.