A rechargeable Zn- poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) battery

Based on the cyclic voltammograms and impedance spectra of poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) in the electrolyte solution containing ZnCl2 and NH4Cl, a solution consisting of 2.0 M ZnCl2 and 3.0 M NH4Cl with pH 4.70 was employed as an electrolyte solution of a Zn-poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) battery. The battery was charged and discharged between 0.75 and 1.45 V at different current densities. The average charge voltage is about 1.15 V and the average discharge voltage is about 1.05 V, slightly depending on the charge–discharge current density. The capacity and energy densities of poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) are 137.5 A h kg−1 and 152.5 W h kg−1 for discharge process, respectively, which are much better than those of polyaniline at the same solution. After the test of the charge–discharge at different current densities, the battery was successively charged and discharged for 120 cycles. At one-hundred and twentieth cycle, the coulombic efficiency is 100% and the energy density of poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol) only decreases by 9.2%, compared with the first cycle of the successive charge–discharge processes.