A Universal Organic Cathode for Ultrafast Lithium and Multivalent Metal Batteries

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie (International ed.) Vol. 57; no. 24; pp. 7146 - 7150
• Main Authors: Fan, Xiulin, Wang, Fei, Ji, Xiao, Wang, Ruixing, Gao, Tao, Hou, Singyuk, Chen, Ji, Deng, Tao, Li, Xiaogang, Chen, Long, Luo, Chao, Wang, Luning, Wang, Chunsheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 11.06.2018; Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Aluminum; Batteries; Cathodes; Cations; Commercialization; Energy storage; Ion charge; Lithium; lithium ion batteries; Magnesium; multivalent batteries; Operating temperature; organic cathodes; Organic chemistry; Polyimide resins; lithium ion batteries; magnesium; aluminum; multivalent batteries; organic cathodes
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201803703

Low‐cost multivalent battery chemistries (Mg2+, Al3+) have been extensively investigated for large‐scale energy storage applications. However, their commercialization is plagued by the poor power density and cycle life of cathodes. A universal polyimides@CNT (PI@CNT) cathode is now presented that can reversibly store various cations with different valences (Li+, Mg2+, Al3+) at an extremely fast rate. The ion‐coordination charge storage mechanism of PI@CNT is systemically investigated. Full cells using PI@CNT cathodes and corresponding metal anodes exhibit long cycle life (>10000 cycles), fast kinetics (>20 C), and wide operating temperature range (−40 to 50 °C), making the low‐cost industrial polyimides universal cathodes for different multivalent metal batteries. The stable ion‐coordinated mechanism opens a new foundation for the development of high‐energy and high‐power multivalent batteries. A universal ultrafast organic cathode for multivalent batteries is reported. In contrast to slow solid‐state ion diffusion and phase transformation in inorganic materials with a stiff crystal structure, the soft structure of the PI@CNT composite with the ion‐coordination charge storage mechanism ensures ultrafast reaction kinetics, improving the traditional low power and poor cycle life of multivalent battery chemistries.