Electropolymerization of ionic liquid substituted polyphenylene as supercapacitors materials

A new type of polyphenylene, ionic liquid (IL) 1,3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate substituted, has been prepared by electrode position on Au electrode surface via pulse galvanostatic method in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate solution. The obtained polymer film had a spherulitic morphology with smallest grains of around 500 nm. Infrared spectrometry revealed that polyphenylene was deposited to a certain extent. The capacitive behavior of the IL substituted polyphenylene was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge method in 0.2 mol L(-1) H(2)SO(4) aqueous solutions or pure IL [bmim]PF(6). The specific capacitance of the polymer at the charge-discharge current density of 1 mA cm(-2) equaled 206 F g(-1) in acidic aqueous solution or 164 F g(-1) in [bmim]PF(6). Additionally, excellent charge-discharge cycle stability (over 85% value of specific capacitance remained after 600 charge-discharge cycles) and power characteristics of the polymer electrode were observed in both electrolytes. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.