Nickel(II) and Copper(II) Coordination Polymers Derived from 1,2,4,5-Tetraaminobenzene for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Highly conductive electrochemically active materials are required for developing a new generation of ultrafast lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Recently, a novel family of transition metal coordination polymers derived from arylamines exhibited conductivities of over 1 S cm–1. Low molecular weight analogues of these materials show rich and reversible electrochemical behavior. However, there are just very few reports on the application of such materials in LIBs. In this paper, linear nickel(II) and copper(II) coordination polymers derived from 1,2,4,5-tetraaminobenzene are reported and investigated as anode and cathode materials for LIBs. In the anode mode, both materials show ultrafast cycling behavior with impressive stability. Particularly, for the nickel-based material, a specific capacity of 83 mA h g–1is reached at 20 A g–1current density, and 79% of this capacity is retained after 20 000 cycles. Moreover, the copper-based polymer used as a cathode component shows a specific capacity of up to 262 mA h g–1in the voltage range of 1.5–4.1 V vs Li/Li+, which corresponds to the energy density of 616 W h kg–1.