Molecular Design of Electrically Conductive Covalent Organic Frameworks as Efficient Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Introduction

A major breakthrough in chemistry and materials science has been the development of Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs), which show great potential for storing energy from renewable sources and as the power sources for electric cars. However, commercially available LIBs are based on transition metal oxide cathodes, presenting limited energy density and raising relevant environmental concerns.

Alternative Materials

Organic materials have received much attention as alternative electrodes because of their high theoretical capacity, resource availability, and sustainability. In particular, Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) have emerged in the past few years as promising organic electrode materials due to their high stability, high ionic conductivity, and outstanding chemical and structural versatility.

Challenges

Low electrical conductivity remains the main bottleneck for real applications of COFs as electrode materials, usually addressed by adding in large amounts of conductive carbon additives that decrease the energy density of the battery.

Project Objectives

The overarching objective of this project is to design and synthesize new conductive redox-active COFs as cathode materials to enhance LIBs electrochemical performance. The specific goals are:

1. To design a new family of stable redox-active COFs built from unexplored building blocks to achieve an optimal balance between capacity, electrical conductivity, and porosity.
2. To investigate the role of the linkages, building blocks, doping, pressure, anisotropy, and morphology on the electrical conductivity, unravelling the fundamental mechanisms of charge transport in COFs.
3. To manufacture and test lithium batteries using conductive COFs cathode materials, assessing the influence of the processing techniques on the electrochemical performance.