Lithium-Organic Batteries and Symmetrical All-Organic Battery Construction Based on a Novel Bipolar Organic Electrode Material

Organic bipolar small molecule materials have emerged as promising candidates for dual-ion batteries owing to their intrinsic capability to reversibly accommodate both anions and cations. However, the rational design of bipolar molecules that combine high capacity, long-term cycling stability, and feasibility for symmetric device configuration remains a significant challenge. This study reports a novel π-conjugated bipolar organic small molecule, N 1, N 4-di(quinoxalin-2-yl)benzene-1,4-diamine (DQPDA), and evaluates its electrochemical performance. In Li half-cells, DQPDA delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 843 mAh g –1 at 0.1 A g –1 and retains excellent cycling stability over 3000 cycles at 5 A g –1 . Furthermore, DQPDA-based symmetric all-organic batteries exhibit a high specific capacity of 156 mAh g –1 at 0.5 A g –1 (based on the mass of the anode active material) and achieve nearly 100% capacity retention after 20,000 cycles at a high current density of 10 A g –1 . Mechanistic investigations reveal that the bipolar characteristics arise from the n-type (C=N/C–N) and p-type (–NH–/=NH + –) redox actions within the molecular framework. This work provides a molecular design strategy for developing low-cost and highly sustainable symmetric organic batteries based on bipolar organic materials.