Abstract
The burgeoning energy demands of an increasingly eco-conscious population have spurred the need for sustainable energy storage devices, and have called into question the viability of the popular lithium ion battery. A series of natural polyaromatic compounds have previously displayed the capability to bind lithium via polar oxygen-containing functional groups that act as redox centers in potential electrodes. Lawsone, a widely renowned dye molecule extracted from the henna leaf, can be dimerized to bislawsone to yield up to six carbonyl/hydroxyl groups for potential lithium coordination. The facile one-step dimerization and subsequent chemical lithiation of bislawsone minimizes synthetic steps and toxic reagents compared to existing systems. We therefore report lithiated bislawsone as a candidate to advance non-toxic and recyclable green battery materials. Bislawsone based electrodes displayed a specific capacity of up to 130 mA h g−1 at 20 mA g−1 currents, and voltage plateaus at 2.1–2.5 V, which are comparable to modern Li-ion battery cathodes.
Highlights
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are a ubiquitous staple of modern electronics
Typical LIB cathodes are constructed of LiCoO2 or LiNiO2 cathodes,[5,6] which require scarce and costly lithium and toxic transition metals such as cobalt.[7,8]
A comparison of lithiated bislawsone (Li-BL) that was lithiated with 2 eq of Li and Li-BL that was lithiated with an excess of Li metal, yielded identical spectra (Fig. S3†), leading to the conclusion that Li-BL coordinates two Li atoms
Summary
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are a ubiquitous staple of modern electronics Despite their pronounced commercial achievements, LIBs have received considerable criticism due to their negative environmental impact, safety issues, and the energetic/monetary costs associated with manufacturing and recycling.[1,2,3,4] Typical LIB cathodes are constructed of LiCoO2 or LiNiO2 cathodes,[5,6] which require scarce and costly lithium and toxic transition metals such as cobalt.[7,8] In addition, there is evidence to suggest that CO2 emissions associated with their production might outweigh the impact of their incorporation into seemingly eco-benign innovations such as electric vehicles.[3,9,10] A number of inorganic-based materials have been proposed over the years as alternatives to LiCoO2.
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