Organic Electrode Material Based on Tris-Imidazole Ring Containing Triphenylamine (Donor)-Anthraquinone (Acceptor) for High Performance Pseudocapacitors

Abstract

To meet the challenges of the energy sector adaptation of novel electrode materials is urgently needed. Pseudocapacitors are electrochemical energy storage devices and are utilized to fulfill the growing demand of society. Hence, strong efforts are made towards the development of electrodes based on renewable organic molecular architectures. In this connection, donor–acceptor commands are attractive alternatives to inorganic materials due to their optoelectronic properties. Herein, a triphenylamine–anthraquinone-based donor–acceptor chromophore was developed in electrode materials. As prepared electrode materials based on TPA-IM-AQ on graphite foil (GF) are employed to fabricate a three-electrode supercapacitor (SC) device in 1 M H₂SO₄ electrolyte. At 0.5 A g⁻¹ current density TPA-IM-AQ electrodes-based SC can deliver higher specific capacitance (C_sp) of 275.72 F g⁻¹ at 0.5 A g⁻¹ current density and at 5 mV s⁻¹ scan rate with C_sp of 233.63 F g⁻¹. Moreover, a two-electrode symmetric supercapacitor (SSC) exhibited C_sp of 91.63 F g⁻¹ at 0.5 A g⁻¹ with energy density as high as 16.49 Wh kg⁻¹ at a power density of 1079.96 W kg⁻¹. The TPA-IM-AQ/GF-based device exhibits good C_sp retention with 88.40% after 5000 cycles at 3 A g⁻¹. As-fabricated TPA-Im-AQ/GF electrode demonstrated the advantages of utilizing small organic molecules to achieve a wider operational potential window and higher C_sp.