Synergistic Effect of Hydrogen Bonding and π-π Stacking Enables Long Cycle Life in Organic Electrode Materials

20 November 2020, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Small-molecule organic compounds have emerged as attractive candidates for energy storage in lithium-ion batteries due to their sustainability and modularity. To develop generalizable design principles for organic electrode materials (OEMs), we investigated the correlation between electrochemical performance and addition of functional groups that promote synergistic hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking using a series of quinone-fused aza-phenazines (QAPs) with different hydrogen bonding donor/acceptor arrays. The QAP containing the most hydrogen bonding groups (3) exhibits the best performance with discharge capacities of 145 mAh g-1 at 2C with 82% capacity retention over 1000 cycles. The performance of 3 is attributed to the strategically incorporated -OH and -NH2 groups, which facilitate strong intermolecular interactions and a tightly packed 2D structure. The intermolecular interaction strength was evaluated using variable temperature 1D 1H NMR and 2D 1H-1H NOESY, offering a new strategy to help understand and predict the performance of OEMs with hydrogen bonding motifs.

Keywords

Organic electrode materials
Hydrogen bonding
pi-pi stacking
intermolecular force

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.