Made From Henna! A Fast-Charging, High-Capacity, and Recyclable Tetrakislawsone Cathode Material for Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Nature-inspired solutions to energy storage are aimed at sustainability, cost-efficiency, and humanitarian issues surrounding current lithium ion battery (LIB) technologies. Tetrakislawsone (TKL), a tetramer derived from the natural tattooing dye henna, yields a promising cathode material for recyclable and environmentally friendly LIBs. Previously, small organic molecules as LIB materials have displayed precipitous capacity fading and poor cycling lifetimes due to their instability in organic electrolytes. Our study finds that tetrakislawsone exhibits stable gravimetric capacities exceeding 100 mAh g–1 for over 300 charge/discharge cycles owed to the coordination of four Li ions as well as the unique stability of lithium salts of TKL in electrolytes. The mechanistic investigation of metal ion binding was aided by DFT computations, solid-state NMR, and in situ spectroscopy studies revealing that the molecule adopts a nonplanar coordination geometry. This allows for reversible lithium ion binding between the carbonyl and hydroxyl functional groups of TKL subunits.

Sustainable Battery Materials from Biomass

“…Juglone and lawsone, two natural dyes (Figure ), are substituted naphthoquinones that exhibit significant redox activity . Recently, they have been used in a range of electrochemical applications, such as supercapacitors, lithium‐ion batteries, or sodium‐ion batteries . To prevent their dissolution in the electrolyte, nanowires were formed by an antisolvent technique, that is, by recrystallization or by dropping a solution of the redox‐active biomolecule into an antisolvent in which crystals then form in high n m or low μ m concentrations .…”

Design strategies for organic carbonyl materials for energy storage: Small molecules, oligomers, polymers and supramolecular structures

“…In this section, we have selected a few recent examples of organic electrodes that are either directly or indirectly derived from biomass or bioinspired molecules through non-harsh synthetic procedures. A series of sustainable and green materials extracted from plants and biomass including dopamine, 37 flavin, 38 lawsone, [39][40][41] melanin, 42 and indigo carminederived molecules 43,44 have been investigated as green organic electrodes materials.…”

Bioderived Molecular Electrodes for Next‐Generation Energy‐Storage Materials

“…Destabilization may be caused by the rotation of the C−C bond bridging the monomer units, which prevents the molecule from achieving planar stacking interactions, such as those in 3 and 4 . Interestingly, derivative 6 , a tetramer of 3 synthesized by condensing four units of 3 around an aromatic dialdehyde, displayed a much‐improved cycling lifetime of over 300 cycles as a LIB cathode material. Compared with 5 , tetramer 6 displayed fast charge–discharge capabilities, with a maximum specific capacity of over 150 mAh g −1 , and high rate capabilities at current densities up to 200 mA g −1 .…”