Modification of polystyrene maleic anhydride for efficient energy storage applications

The development of new energy storage devices has been gaining momentum in the wake of the energy crisis faced worldwide. New materials have been tried and tested and efforts have been made to implement these materials to the commercial arena. Conducting polymers have been used and new polymeric structures have been designed in this respect. Here, we have modified styrene maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymer with two different moieties, i.e. 2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (AMT) and 4,4-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) with an aim to study their electrochemical characteristics in details. The modifications were expected to greatly improve the electrochemical performance of an otherwise feebly conducting polymer. Both the modified copolymers were characterised using UV-visible and FTIR spectroscopic techniques and scanning electron microscopy. Their electrochemical properties were studied using cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry and AC impedance techniques. These materials exhibited a significant enhancement in their specific capacitance when compared with SMA. SMA represents a specific capacitance of 24.5 F g(-1)whereas AMT-modified copolymer SMA-1 exhibited a specific capacitance of 149 F g(-1)and DDM-modified copolymer SMA-2 exhibited a specific capacitance of 124.45 F g(-1). Thus, the results clearly indicated a considerable increase in the values of capacitance of SMA after the modification was performed.

Automated summary

The development of new energy storage devices is flourishing, with modifications made to SMA copolymer to enhance their electrochemical characteristics. The modified copolymers showed significantly improved specific capacitance compared to SMA, indicating a promising direction for energy storage device advancements.