Open AccessA Sulfhydryl Azobenzene-Modified Polyaniline/Silver Electrode and Its Photoswitching Electrochemical Performance
Author(s) -
Changguo Xue,
Shiqin Li,
Yu Tang,
Cunbin An,
Song Liu,
Yanhua Teng
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.1c00645
Subject(s) - azobenzene , polyaniline , cyclic voltammetry , materials science , electrochemistry , nanocomposite , electrode , raman spectroscopy , absorption spectroscopy , nuclear chemistry , photochemistry , chemistry , nanotechnology , polymer , composite material , polymerization , optics , physics
In this work, a sulfhydryl-functionalized azobenzene derivative (Azo) was synthesized and polyaniline/silver was modified (PANI/Ag) to make a nanocomposite (PANI/Ag/Azo). A series of characterization techniques like 1 HNMR, UV-vis absorption spectra, Raman spectra, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, and TGA was employed to study Azo, PANI/Ag, and PANI/Ag/Azo. Electrochemical properties were measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charging/discharging (GCD). CV showed that UV and blue light had hardly any effect on PANI/Ag. However, with the prolonged exposure time of UV light, the maximum CV current density of PANI/Ag/Azo rose from 1.24 to 2.72 A g -1 . Then, after 20 min of blue light irradiation, the maximum current density gradually recovered (from 2.72 to 1.26 A g -1 ). The GCD also obtained similar results. After formula calculation, the specific capacitance of PANI/Ag/Azo also presented a reversible trend under the alternating irradiation of UV light and blue light. All the results show that PANI/Ag/Azo has a good photoelectric response, and its electrochemical performance can be reversibly adjusted by light. This result provides a new design idea for developing electrode materials with real-time electrochemical properties.