A Nanostructured Phenazine-Based Conjugated Microporous Polymer Hybrid Anode Boosts Power and Practicability of Organic-Manganese Hydronium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Organic-manganese hydronium-ion batteries are gaining attention for their safety, sustainability, and high rate capabilities. However, their electrochemical performance faces challenges due to organic active-materials’ inferior properties, including low conductivity and solubility, and limited content (<60 wt %) and loading (<2 mg cm⁻²) in the anode. To address this, we developed a high-performance battery using a phenazine-based conjugated microporous polymer hybrid anode (IEP-27-SR), utilizing hydronium-ion coordination/un-coordination chemistry. The IEP-27-SR anode features enhanced structural characteristics, such as a high BET specific surface area, mixed micro-/mesoporosity, nanostructurization, and hybridization, enabling rapid hydronium-ion mobility. The resulting IEP-27-SR//MnO₂@GF full-cell demonstrates high capacity (101 mAh g⁻¹ at 2 C), excellent rate performance (41 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 C), ultrafast-charging capability (80 % charged in 18 seconds), and impressive cycling stability with 83 % capacity retention over 20400 cycles at 30 C with a regular polymer mass loading of 2 mg cm⁻², despite its high content (80 wt %) in the anode. Moreover, it shows operability at low temperatures (63 mAh g⁻¹ at −40 °C). Most importantly, the full-cell with a high-mass-loading polymer anode (30 mg cm⁻²) achieves practically relevant areal capacity (3.4 mAh cm⁻² at 4 mA cm⁻²) and sustains 2 mAh cm⁻² under an extremely high areal current (50 mA cm⁻²). This breakthrough highlights the progress of organic hydronium-ion batteries, representing progress toward practical, sustainable energy storage solutions.