Supramolecular Assembly of Fused Macrocycle-Cage Molecules for Fast Lithium-Ion Transport
Y. P. Wang, Kaiyang Wang, Qing Ai, Stephen D. Funni, Ashutosh Garudapalli, Qiyi Fang, Suin Choi, Gangbin Yan, Shayan Louie, Chong Liu, Jun Lou, J. Judy, Jingjie Yeo, Zexin Jin, Yu Zhong
Abstract
We report a new supramolecular porous crystal assembled from fused macrocycle-cage molecules. The molecule comprises a prismatic cage with three macrocycles radially attached. The molecules form a nanoporous crystal with one-dimensional (1D) nanochannels. The supramolecular porous crystal can take up lithium-ion electrolytes and achieve an ionic conductivity of up to 8.3 × 10 –4 S/cm. Structural analysis and density functional theory calculations reveal that efficient Li-ion electrolyte uptake, the presence of 1D nanochannels, and weak interactions between lithium ions and the crystal enable fast lithium-ion transport. Our findings demonstrate the potential of fused macrocycle-cage molecules as a new design motif for ion-conducting molecular crystals.