Cost-effective, simple, and easily reproducible synthesis
methods
of polymers are of profound significance when it comes to extracting
high battery performance metrics from polymeric redox-active materials.
This work reports a procedure for the solvothermal synthesis of a
poly(hydroquinonyl-benzoquinonyl sulfide) (PHBQS) polymer and the
development of its nanostructured composites with multiwalled carbon
nanotubes (MWCNTs). Polymers are tested as high-performance cathode
materials for Li+ and Mg2+ batteries. In configurations,
compared to neat PHBQS, the PHBQS@5%MWCNT cathode exhibits superior
electrochemical performance with high active material utilization
owing to improved ion/electron transport pathways. Galvanostatic characterization
of the PHBQS@5%MWCNT cathode in lithium batteries exhibited peak capacity
up to 358 mAh g–1 at a current density of 50 mA
g–1 (C/8) and excellent rate performance with a
discharge capacity of 236 mAh g–1 maintained even
at high current density of 10C. The galvanostatic characterization
in Mg batteries reveals more sluggish kinetics with a stable capacity
of 200 mAh g–1 at 50 mA g–1.