High Rate and Long Lifespan Sodium-Organic Batteries Using Pseudocapacitive Porphyrin Complexes-Based Cathode

Sodium-organic batteries utilizing natural abundance of sodium element and renewable active materials gain great attentions for grid-scale applications. However, the development is still limited by lack of suitable organic cathode materials with high electronic conductivity that can be operated stably in liquid electrolyte. Herein, we present 5,15-bis(ethynyl)-10,20-diphenylporphyrin (DEPP) and 5,15-bis(ethynyl)-10,20-diphenylporphinatocopper(II) (CuDEPP) as new cathodes for extremely stable sodium-organic batteries. The copper(II) ion partially contributes the charge storage and significantly stabilizes the structure of porphyrin complex for electrochemical energy storage. In situ electrochemical stabilization of organic cathode with a lower charging current density was identified which enables both improved high energy density and power density. An excellent long-term cycling stability up to 600 cycles and an extremely high power density of 28 kW kg−1 were achieved for porphyrin-based cathode. This observation would open new pathway for developing highly stable sodium-organic cathode for electrochemical energy storage.