Highly Stable and Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Using a Designed Organic PTVE-Impregnated Porous Graphitic Carbon Composite

Abstract

Organic rechargeable batteries have the advantages of environmental friendliness, effortless availability, rapid charging ability, and high-power output. However, organic batteries face a severe self-discharge issue resulting from the dissolution of the organic electrode material in the electrolyte and low electron conductivity owing to their insulating properties, which eventually results in defects such as capacity decay for a shortened lifetime. In this study, a novel composite cathode is designed using an organic electrode material impregnated with porous carbon. Poly(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy-4-yl vinylether) (PTVE) is selected as the organic electrode material, which is synthesized via radical polymerization and embedded into spherical porous graphitic carbon (GC). The PTVE-GC composite electrode achieves a high discharge capacity of 120.1 mAh g-1 and maintains an excellent cycling stability with a capacity retention of 87.3% after 500 cycles. In addition, the capacity remains 96.9 mAh g-1 at a high current density (10 C, 6 min charge) due to rapid electron transfer and the inhibition of PTVE dissolution. Therefore, the designed composite structure of the organic electrode materials and porous GC could provide guidance for the construction of high-performance electrodes for organic rechargeable batteries.