Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Grand Ballroom (Hilton New Orleans Riverside)
The paradigm of battery research has begun to shift to exploring electrode materials that are completely renewable, where such electrode materials ideally do not contain any metallic elements. We have demonstrated, for the first time, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) - crystalline and readily available coronene - exhibiting highly reversible anion-storage properties. Conventional graphite anion insertion electrodes operate at potentials > 5.0 V vs Li+/Li, requiring additives and the use of ionic liquids. The coronene electrode shows flat plateaus at 4.2 V (charge) and 4.0 V (discharge) in a standard alkyl carbonate electrolyte and delivers a reversible discharge capacity of ~ 40 mA h g-1. Ex situ characterization reveals that coronene retains its crystalline structure and chemical bonding upon PF6- incorporation. Coronene-PF6 electrodes show impressive cycling stability: 93% capacity retention after 1600 cycles. The discovery of the reversible anion-storage properties of coronene may open new avenues toward dual-ion batteries based on PAHs as electrodes.