Electropolymerization of D-A type monomers consisting of mono-triphenylamine moiety for electrochromic devices and supercapacitors

Redox active conjugated polymers have been received great research interest due to their potential applications in electrochromic devices and supercapacitors. In this work, three donor-acceptor (D-A) monomers (TPA-BY, TPAP-BY, TPAT-BY) consisting of single triphenylamine unit were synthesized and further deposited on ITO glass via electrochemical polymerization for electrochromic devices and supercapacitors. The obtained polymer films (PTPA-BY, PTPAP-BY, PTPAT-BY) exhibited reversible redox behavior and obvious color change upon voltage variation, especially the optical contrast of PTAP-BY reaching up to 81% at 720 nm. Moreover, the present novel conjugated polymers showed supercapacitor performance with areal specific capacitance among 2.2 ∼ 3.9 mF·cm−2 at a current density of 0.06 mA·cm−2, guaranteeing their potential application in energy saving smart windows.