High-Performance p-type organic electrode materials with oxygen atoms as active centers enabled by molecular design and in situ electropolymerization

Redox-active organic molecules are considered to be one type of promising electrode materials for next generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), among which p-type electrode materials with higher voltage and outstanding reaction kinetics receive much attention. However, it is a great challenge to develop p-type materials with oxygen atom as the active center and the electrochemical performance of the few reported examples needs significant improvement. Herein, 1,3,5-tri(benzofuran-2-yl)benzene (TBFB) was elaborately designed and facilely synthesized through one-step Suzuki coupling reaction from commercially available raw reagents. When used as p-type electrode material for LIBs, it was found that TBFB with poor solubility can be effectively in situ electropolymerized during the charging process, forming more insoluble polymers. Experimental results demonstrate that TBFB electrode achieves a high specific capacity of 179.1 mAh g−1 and an ultralong cycle life of 8000 cycles. This work manifests the electrochemical performance of p-type organic electrode materials with oxygen atom as active center can be effectively enhanced by rational molecular design and in situ electropolymerization method.