Anchoring aromatic polymers on carbon nanotube as high-capacity and long-life cathode materials for aqueous zinc-organic batteries

Abstract

π-conjugated aromatic compounds containing imide groups show great application prospect in aqueous zinc-organic batteries (AZOBs). However, their low inherent conductivity as well as dense packing structure result in slow diffusion kinetics and low utilization of redox active sites, thereby limiting their further development. Herein, the unique π-conjugated aromatic compounds/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite is fabricated by anchoring polydiaminonaphthalene (pNAPD) on CNT through simple chemical oxidative polymerization strategy. Benefitting from a large amount of exposed C=N active site and the improved conductivity, the optimum pNAPD@CNT20 shows high reversible capacity of 235 mAh g−1 (at 50 mA g−1), remarkable rate capacity of 158 mAh g−1 (at 2 A g−1) and significant cycling performance with capacity loss of 14.9 % after 1000 cycles (at 1 A g−1). This work could serve as a source of inspiration in exploring novel π-conjugated aromatic compounds for advanced AZOBs.