Organic Hydronium-Ion Battery with Ultralong Life
Yanrong Wang, Caixing Wang, Wei Wang, Yu Zhang, Zhaowei Guo, Jianhang Huang, Lei Yan, Jing Ma, Yonggang Wang
Abstract
The nonmetallic charge carrier hydronium (H 3 O + ) possesses the advantages of cost-efficiency and high ionic conductivity. However, only several available electrode materials have been reported for reversibly storing H 3 O +, and most of them suffer from limited cycle life due to the soluble and/or structurally unstable nature. Herein, we demonstrate that an organic quinone dibenzo[b,i]thianthrene-5,7,12,14-tetraone (DTT) exhibits the capability to accommodate H 3 O + in an acid electrolyte, with a capacity of 212 mAh g DTT –1 at 0.05 A g DTT –1 and long-term cycling stability. Theoretical calculation results indicate that DTT undergoes a two-electron and subsequent one-electron redox process during reversible storage of H 3 O + . When coupling with an MnO 2 cathode, the constructed MnO 2 //DTT battery provides long cycling stability over 50000 cycles at 2 A g DTT –1 with a capacity retention of 72%. Furthermore, the battery can operate well and shows cycle stability even at −70 °C, implying promising prospective capability in low-temperature environments.