Abstract
Aqueous sodium‐ion battery of low cost, inherent safety, and environmental benignity holds substantial promise for new‐generation energy storage applications. However, the narrow potential window of water and the enlarged ionic radius because of hydration restrict the selection of electrode materials used in the aqueous electrolyte. Here, inspired by the efficient redox reaction of biomolecules during cellular energy metabolism, a proof of concept is proposed that the redox‐active biomolecule alizarin can act as a novel electrode material for the aqueous sodium‐ion battery. It is demonstrated that the specific capacity of the self‐assembled alizarin nanowires can reach as high as 233.1 mA h g−1, surpassing the majority of anodes ever utilized in the aqueous sodium‐ion batteries. Paired with biocompatible and biodegradable polypyrrole, this full battery system shows excellent sodium storage ability and flexibility, indicating its potential applications in wearable electronics and biointegrated devices. It is also shown that the electrochemical properties of electrodes can be tailored by manipulating naturally occurring 9,10‐anthroquinones with various substituent groups, which broadens application prospect of biomolecules in aqueous sodium‐ion batteries.
Highlights
Sodium-ion batteries are considered as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries benignity holds substantial promise for new-generation energy storage due to the natural abundance of sodium applications
We demonstrate that the alizarin molecule shows a redox activity at a relatively low potential and can be further fabricated into nanowires via a self-assembly process
Paired with polypyrrole (PPy) which possesses biocompatibility and biodegradability, we demonstrate that this full battery system when bended can still power a portable device, displaying its possible applications as wearable electronics and biointegrated devices
Summary
Sodium-ion batteries are considered as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries benignity holds substantial promise for new-generation energy storage due to the natural abundance of sodium applications. Except for alizarin, we systematically probe a series of naturally occurring 9,10-anthroquinones with tunable electrochemical properties and testify the broad suitability of the biomolecules in aqueous sodium-ion batteries.
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