Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Diffusion-free Grotthuss topochemistry for high-rate and long-life proton batteries

2019; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 4; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41560-018-0309-7

2058-7546

Xianyong Wu, Jessica J. Hong, Woochul Shin, Lu Ma, Tongchao Liu, Xuanxuan Bi, Yifei Yuan, Yitong Qi, T. Wesley Surta, Wenxi Huang, J. Neuefeind, Tianpin Wu, P. Alex Greaney, Jun Lü, Xiulei Ji,

Advancements in Battery Materials

The design of Faradaic battery electrodes that exhibit high rate capability and long cycle life equivalent to those of the electrodes of electrical double-layer capacitors is a big challenge. Here we report a strategy to fill this performance gap using the concept of Grotthuss proton conduction, in which proton transfer takes place by means of concerted cleavage and formation of O–H bonds in a hydrogen-bonding network. We show that in a hydrated Prussian blue analogue (Turnbull’s blue) the abundant lattice water molecules with a contiguous hydrogen-bonding network facilitate Grotthuss proton conduction during redox reactions. When using it as a battery electrode, we find high-rate behaviours at 4,000 C (380 A g−1, 508 mA cm−2), and a long cycling life of 0.73 million cycles. These results for diffusion-free Grotthuss topochemistry of protons, in contrast to orthodox battery electrochemistry, which requires ion diffusion inside electrodes, indicate a potential direction to revolutionize electrochemical energy storage for high-power applications. This Article presents a battery with protons as the charge carrier, as opposed to Li-ion batteries, which rely on the transport of Li-ions. Protons are conducted by means of the Grotthuss mechanism in a hydrated Prussian blue analogue electrode, offering potential for ultrafast rate and long-life batteries.