Engineering Active Sites of Polyaniline for AlCl2+ Storage in an Aluminum-Ion Battery |
| |
Authors: | Dr Shuai Wang Shuo Huang Minjie Yao Yan Zhang Prof Zhiqiang Niu |
| |
Institution: | Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry, (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 P. R. China |
| |
Abstract: | The reversible capacity of AlCl4− intercalation/de-intercalation in conventional cathodes of aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) is difficult to improve due to the large size of AlCl4− anions. Therefore, it is highly desirable to realize the intercalation/de-intercalation of smaller Al-based ions. Here, we fabricated polyaniline/single-walled carbon nanotubes (PANI/SWCNTs) composite films and protonated the PANI nanorods. The protonation endows PANI with more active sites and enhanced conductivity. Hyper self-protonated PANI (PANI(H+)) exhibits reversible AlCl2+ intercalation/de-intercalation during the discharge/charge process. As a result, the discharge capacity of the Al/PANI(H+) battery is twice as high as that of the initial composite films. PANI(H+)@SWCNT electrodes also have a stable cycling life with only 0.003 % capacity decay per cycle over 8000 cycles. Owing to the excellent mechanical properties, PANI(H+)@SWCNT composite films can act as the electrodes of flexible AIBs. |
| |
Keywords: | aluminum-ion batteries carbon nanotubes energy storage flexible devices polyaniline |
|
|