High-performance all-organic aqueous batteries based on a poly(imide) anode and poly(catechol) cathode

Aqueous all-polymer batteries (AqPBs) are foreseen as promising solutions for safe, sustainable, and high-performance energy storage applications. Nevertheless, their development is still challenging as it demands precise optimization of both electrodes and the electrolyte composition to be able to sustain a stable redox activity, while delivering an optimal voltage output. Herein, we report AqPBs based on a poly(imide) (PI) anode and poly(catechol) (PC) cathode that exhibit tunable cell voltage depending on the salt used in the aqueous electrolyte, i.e., 0.58, 0.74, 0.89, and 0.95 V, respectively, when Li+, Zn2+, Al3+, and Li+/H+ were utilized as charge carriers. The PI–PC full-cell delivers the best rate performance (a sub-second charge/discharge) and cycling stability (80% capacity retention over 1000 cycles at 5 A g−1) in Li+. Furthermore, a maximum energy/power density of 80.6 W h kganode+cathode−1/348 kW kganode+cathode−1 is achieved in Li+/H+, superior to most of the previously reported AqPBs.RM, NP and AM thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the SUSBAT project (Ref. RTI2018-101049-B-I00) (MINECO/FEDER, UE) and the European Research Council (ERC) through the "MFreeB" project (grant agreement No. 726217) for financial support. NP also appreciates Spanish MINECO for the Juan de la Cierva-formation fellowship [FJC2018-037781-I] received to carry out this work. AM acknowledges the TALENTO grant (2017-T1/AMB-5264) from the Comunidad de Madrid for financial support. The authors acknowledge the computing facilities of CSUC for providing resources that contributed to the research results reported within this paper. DM and NC are grateful to the financial support of the European Research Council by the Proof of Concept Grant Innovative Polymeric Batteries by 3D Printing (iPes-3DBat) 789875. CD and CJ thank the "Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique" (FRS-FNRS) for funding