A conducting additive-free high potential quinone-based conducting redox polymer as lithium ion battery cathode

Organic carbonyl compounds have been considered as promising alternatives to traditional inorganic battery materials due to their low-cost, sustainability and structural diversity. The development of carbonyl compounds as energy storage materials is, however, hampered by dissolution as well as by the low electronic conductivity of these materials. Herein a conducting redox polymer concept is employed where the carbonyl group is functionalized onto a conducting polymer. The utilization of a conducting polymer prevents the dissolution and provides electron transport pathways to support the carbonyl group redox reaction. A high potential quinizarin (Qz) is used as capacity-carrying group. It is functionalized onto a thiophene-based trimer unit which is polymerized through a post-deposition polymerization method. In the resulting material, Qz is redox-matched with the conducting polymer backbone and exhibits two reversible 1e/1Li+ redox processes at 3.1 and 3.4 V vs. Li+/0, respectively. Together with a lithium metal anode, a battery cell with an average discharge voltage of 3.3 V, a discharge capacity of 65 mAh/g at 1.5 C and a capacity retention of 74% after 500 cycles is assembled.