Copolymers of 5-amino-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) and o-aminophenol (oAP) are electropolymerized on carbon cloth substrate from aqueous solutions, and the electropolymerization process is investigated using electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance. The surface of the copolymer (PANS-co-oAP) appears rough and is capable to store charge as the battery-type electrode in 1 m H2 SO4 (102.9 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 ) or in 1 m ZnSO4 (79.75 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 ) aqueous solutions. Compared with PANS and PoAP, the high specific capacity of the PANS-co-oAP is originated from the increased number of electrochemically active sites and increased diffusion rates of ions. Evidence of amino/imino and hydroxyl/carbonyl groups redox processes and cation insertion and extraction are given by ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When used as the electrode material in the flexible solid-state supercapacitors, the specific capacitance is at 37.9 F g-1 which does not significantly alter with the bending angle. The flexible solid-state supercapacitor shows a specific energy of 5.4 Wh kg-1 and a power density of 250.3 W kg-1 at 0.5 A g-1 , and a high capacitance retention (88.2%) after 3000 cycles at 5 A g-1 is achieved.
Keywords: 5-Amino-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid; aqueous supercapacitors; electropolymerization; o-aminophenol.
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