Reversible Redox Chemistry of Azo Compounds for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Chao Luo; Gui-Liang Xu; Xiao Ji; Singyuk Hou; Long Chen; Fei Wang; Jianjun Jiang; Zonghai Chen; Yang Ren; Khalil Amine; Chunsheng Wang

doi:10.1002/anie.201713417

Reversible Redox Chemistry of Azo Compounds for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Mar 5;57(11):2879-2883. doi: 10.1002/anie.201713417. Epub 2018 Feb 9.

Authors

Chao Luo¹, Gui-Liang Xu², Xiao Ji^{1

3}, Singyuk Hou¹, Long Chen¹, Fei Wang¹, Jianjun Jiang³, Zonghai Chen², Yang Ren², Khalil Amine^{2

4}, Chunsheng Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20740, USA.
² Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA.
³ School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.
⁴ IRMC, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 29378088
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201713417

Abstract

Sustainable sodium-ion batteries (SSIBs) using renewable organic electrodes are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for the large-scale renewable energy storage. However, the lack of high-performance anode material impedes the development of SSIBs. Herein, we report a new type of organic anode material based on azo group for SSIBs. Azobenzene-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid sodium salt is used as a model to investigate the electrochemical behaviors and reaction mechanism of azo compound. It exhibits a reversible capacity of 170 mAh g^-1 at 0.2C. When current density is increased to 20C, the reversible capacities of 98 mAh g^-1 can be retained for 2000 cycles, demonstrating excellent cycling stability and high rate capability. The detailed characterizations reveal that azo group acts as an electrochemical active site to reversibly bond with Na⁺ . The reversible redox chemistry between azo compound and Na ions offer opportunities for developing long-cycle-life and high-rate SSIBs.

Keywords: anodes; azo compounds; organic electrode materials; sodium-ion batteries.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't