Emerging polymer electrodes for aqueous energy storage

Impact-resistant supercapacitor by hydrogel-infused lattice

The safety of energy storage devices is increasingly crucial due to the growing requirements for application under harsh conditions. Effective methods for enhancing robustness without compromising functionality are necessary. Here we present an impact-resistant, ready-to-use supercapacitor constructed from self-healable hydrogel electrolyte-infused lattice electrodes. Three-dimensional-printed carbon-coated silicon oxycarbide current collectors provide mechanical protection, with compressive stress, Young's modulus, and energy absorption up to 70.61 MPa, 2.75 GPa, and 92.15 kJ/m3, respectively. Commercially viable polyaniline and self-healable polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel are used as active coatings and electrolytes. I-wrapped package structured supercapacitor electrode exhibits a static specific capacitance of 585.51 mF/cm3 at 3 mA/cm3, with an energy density of 97.63 μWh/cm3 at a power density of 0.5 mW/cm3. It maintains operational integrity under extreme conditions, including post-impact with energy of 0.3 J/cm3, dynamic loading ranging from 0 to 18.83 MPa, and self-healing after electrolyte damage, demonstrating its promise for applications in extreme environments.

Over 60 h of Stable Water-Operation for N-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors with Fast Response and Ambipolarity

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are of great interest in low-power bioelectronics and neuromorphic computing, as they utilize organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) to transduce ionic signals into electrical signals. However, the poor environmental stability of OMIEC materials significantly restricts the practical application of OECTs. Therefore, the non-fused planar naphthalenediimide (NDI)-dialkoxybithiazole (2Tz) copolymers are fine-tuned through varying ethylene glycol (EG) side chain lengths from tri(ethylene glycol) to hexa(ethylene glycol) (namely P-XO, X = 3-6) to achieve OECTs with high-stability and low threshold voltage. As a result, the NDI-2Tz copolymers exhibit ambipolarity, rapid response (<10 ms), and ultra-high n-type stability. Notably, the P-6O copolymers display a threshold voltage as low as 0.27 V. They can operate in n-type mode in an aqueous solution for over 60 h, maintaining an on-off ratio of over 105. This work sheds light on the design of exceptional n-type/ambipolar materials for OECTs. It demonstrates the potential of incorporating these ambipolar polymers into water-operational integrated circuits for long-term biosensing systems and energy-efficient brain-inspired computing.

Polyaniline/Tungsten Trioxide Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Anode for Aqueous Proton Batteries

Aqueous proton batteries have received increasing attention due to their outstanding rate performance, stability and high capacity. However, the selection of anode materials in strongly acidic electrolytes poses a challenge in achieving high-performance aqueous proton batteries. This study optimized the proton reaction kinetics of layered metal oxide WO3 by introducing interlayer structural water and coating polyaniline (PANI) on its surface to prepare organic-inorganic hybrid material (WO3 ⋅ 2H2O@PANI). We constructed an aqueous proton battery with WO3 ⋅ 2H2O@PANI anode and MnO2@GF cathode. After 1500 cycles at a current density of 10 A g-1, the capacity retention rate can still reach 80.2 %. These results can inspire the development of new aqueous proton batteries.

Azo-Linkage Redox Metal-Organic Framework Incorporating Carbon Nanotubes for High-Performance Aqueous Energy Storage

The design of well-defined hierarchical free-standing electrodes for robust high-performance energy storage is challenging. We report herein that azo-linkage redox metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) incorporate single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as flexible electrodes. The in situ-guided growth, crystallinity and morphology of UiO-66-NO2 MOFs were finely controlled in the presence of CNTs. The MOFs' covalent anchoring to CNTs and solvothermal grafting anthraquinone (AQ) pendants endow the hybrid (denoted as CNT@UiO-66-AQ) with greatly improved conductivity, charge storage pathways and electrochemical dynamics. The flexible CNT@UiO-66-AQ displays a highest areal specific capacitance of 302.3 mF cm-2 (at 1 mA cm-2) in -0.4~0.9 V potential window, together with 100% capacitance retention over 5000 cycles at 5 mA cm-2. Its assembled symmetrical supercapacitor (SSC) achieves a maximum energy density of 0.037 mWh cm-2 and a maximum power density of 10.4 mW cm-2, outperforming many MOFs-hybrids-based SSCs in the literature. Our work may open a new avenue for preparing azo-coupled redox MOFs hybrids with carbaneous substrates for high-performance robust aqueous energy storage.

Unveiling the Role of Charge Dilution and Anionic Chemistry in Enabling High-Rate p-Type Polymer Cathodes for Dual-Ion Batteries

Herein, we introduce a p-type redox conjugated covalent organic polymer (p-PNZ) as a universal and high-rate cathode for diverse dual-ion batteries. By constructing an n-type redox counterpart (n-PNZ) with an analogous reticular structure and redox-site composition, we also attain a comparative platform to probe how the redox-site nature and counterion chemistry affect the rate performance of polymer cathodes. It is disclosed that the charge dilution in p-type redox sites and bulky anions engenders their weak interaction and rapid anion diffusion in electrodes, while the trivial interaction of the solvent with anions facilitates anion desolvation and interfacial charge transfer. Thus, p-PNZ possesses rapid surface-controlled redox kinetics with a high anion diffusion coefficient regardless of its inferior porosity and conductivity relative to n-PNZ. Along with a long cycle life of over 50000 cycles, the p-PNZ-engaged Zn-based dual-ion battery with a dilute electrolyte delivers nearly constant capacities of ∼149 mAh g-1 at various rates of ≤10 A g-1─such an unusual rate capability has rarely been observed previously─and retains ∼99 mAh g-1 at 40 A g-1, surpassing the n-PNZ counterpart and most existing p-type organic cathodes. The p-PNZ cathode can also be applied to build high-rate Li-based batteries, signifying its universality, while the "ready-to-charge" character of p-PNZ enables anode-free dual-ion batteries with a high-rate capability and long lifespan.

Electrochemical Doping in Ordered and Disordered Domains of Organic Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conductors

Conjugated polymers are increasingly used as organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors in electrochemical applications for neuromorphic computing, bioelectronics, and energy harvesting. The design of efficient electrochemical devices relies on large modulations of the polymer conductivity, fast doping/dedoping kinetics, and high ionic uptake. In this work, structure-property relations are established and control of these parameters by the co-existence of order and disorder in the phase morphology is demonstrated. Using in situ time-resolved spectroelectrochemistry, resonant Raman, and terahertz (THz) conductivity measurements, the electrochemical doping in the different morphological domains of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is investigated. The main finding is that bipolarons are found preferentially in disordered polymer regions, where they are formed faster and are thermodynamically more favored. On the other hand, polarons show a preference for ordered domains, leading to drastically different bipolaron/polaron ratios and doping/dedoping dynamics in the distinct regions. A significant enhancement of the electronic conductivity is evident when bipolarons start forming in the disordered regions, while the presence of bipolarons in the ordered regions is detrimental for transport. This study provides significant advances in the understanding of the impact of morphology on the electrochemical doping of conjugated polymers and the induced increase in conductivity.

Rose-like VS2 Nanosheets Chemically Anchored on Carbon Nanotubes for Flexible Zinc-Ion Batteries with Enhanced Properties

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are an attractive alternative for flexible energy storage devices due to their excellent safety and low cost. One of the main challenges that plagues their practical applications is the restricted variety of cathode materials with fast reaction kinetics and good mechanical properties. Herein, we prepared rose-like VS₂ nanosheets which have decent specific capacities, metallic conductivity, and open-enough channels and further incorporated them into a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network, achieving a C-V chemical-bonded freestanding VS₂@SWCNT (C-VS₂) composite. Such chemical bonding in the composites builds a bridge for rapid electron transfer and ion diffusion in the longitudinal direction from one layer to another layer. As a result, the reversible Zn/C-VS₂ system in core cells exhibits a high specific capacity (205.3 mA h g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1), an excellent cyclic stability (115.4 mA h g^-1 was obtained after 1500 cycles at 5 A g^-1), and a remarkable rate capability (135.4 mA h g^-1 at 10 A g^-1). Furthermore, the freestanding C-VS₂ films with good flexibility and conductivity can serve as a flexible cathode to assemble soft-packaged ZIBs. Meanwhile, the soft-packaged ZIB has good electrochemical stability even under different bending conditions (the discharge capacity dropped by only 2.1 mA h g^-1 after bending). This work offers insights into the rational design of zinc-ion hosts throughout chemical bond engineering.

In Situ Spectroscopic and Electrical Investigations of Ladder-type Conjugated Polymers Doped with Alkali Metals

Ladder-type conjugated polymers exhibit a remarkable performance in (opto)electronic devices. Their double-stranded planar structure promotes an extended π-conjugation compared to inter-ring-twisted analogues, providing an excellent basis for exploring the effects of charge localization on polaron formation. Here, we investigated alkali-metal n-doping of the ladder-type conjugated polymer (polybenzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL) through detailed in situ spectroscopic and electrical characterizations. Photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared (UV–vis–NIR) spectroscopy indicate polaron formation upon potassium (K) doping, which agrees well with theoretical predictions. The semiladder BBB displays a similar evolution in the valence band with the appearance of two new features below the Fermi level upon K-doping. Compared to BBL, distinct differences appear in the UV–vis–NIR spectra due to more localized polaronic states in BBB. The high conductivity (2 S cm^–1) and low activation energy (44 meV) measured for K-doped BBL suggest disorder-free polaron transport. An even higher conductivity (37 S cm^–1) is obtained by changing the dopant from K to lithium (Li). We attribute the enhanced conductivity to a decreased perturbation of the polymer nanostructure induced by the smaller Li ions. These results highlight the importance of polymer chain planarity and dopant size for the polaronic state in conjugated polymers.