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Flexible organic cathodes with 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PDI) as the active component, carbon black (CB) as the conductive agent and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as the elastomeric matrix are obtained in this work via a solution-based phase inversion approach. In the resulting PDI/CB/TPU cathodes, the mass ratios of the three components manifest profound influences on their composition, flexibility, conductivity and lithium storage behavior. The integrated PDI/CB/TPU cathode with optimized ratio can deliver impressive rate capability and good cycling stability in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). More importantly, the full LIBs with PDI/CB/TPU cathode and carbon cloth anode exhibit excellent electrochemical performances, which show no decay even at bending states, demonstrating the appealing prospects of the solution-processed organic cathodes in wearable secondary batteries. Obtained from a solution-based phase inversion approach, the flexible PDI/CB/TPU cathodes manifest excellent electrochemical performances and good mechanical stability in lithium ion batteries. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An acid-pasting approach is developed in this work to prepare the composites of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and carbon black (CB) by mixing both components in concentrated sulfuric acid. Different from the traditional powder processing, the solution-based fabrication strategy easily renders the effective combination of PTCDA and CB in the resultant CB/PTCDA composites, thus greatly improving their electrochemical performances. As the results, the composite with 20 wt% PTCDA shows excellent rate performances as the cathode material for both lithium ion battery (88 mAh g −1 at 5000 mA g −1 ) and sodium ion battery (100 mAh g −1 at 1000 mA g −1 ). As a facile and efficient processing strategy, the acid-pasting approach is expected to have wide application in the fabrication of organic electrodes in secondary batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a facial in-situ polymerization strategy is developed for the first time to fabricate the composites of polyimide and carbon black (PI/CBs) by the condensation of 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic anhydride and p -phenylenediamine with the presence of carbon black. This composition method can effectively suppress the crystallization of PI and thus allows the sufficient contact of PI and carbon black. As the cathode material in LIBs, the PI/CB composite manifests an extraordinary capacity of 182 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , close to the theoretical value of PI. Moreover, the capacity of the PI/CB composite can be retained as 116 m Ah g −1 even at an ultrahigh current density of 10 A g −1 , outperforming the recently reported polymer LIB cathodes. Under the same conditions, the mechanical mixture of highly crystallized PI sheets and carbon black shows a much poorer performance. The approach demonstrated herein is expected to be further applied as an effective processing method to build up high performance electrodes with organic species in secondary batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the composites of nitrogen-doped graphene framework and Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles with adjustable morphologies (NG/Co 3 O 4 ) were fabricated via a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal route for first time. Three different surfactants including triblock copolymer F127, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide and sodium dodecyl sulfate are involved in the hybrid-assembly of graphene oxide, o -phthalonitrile and cobalt acetate in water/ethanol. Among the obtained samples, the one using F127 (NG/Co 3 O 4 -F127) manifests the most homogeneous distribution of Co 3 O 4 NPs with the size of ∼ 15 nm in the macropore-walls formed by NG. As the anode material in lithium ion battery (LIB), NG/Co 3 O 4 -F127 exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, which is superior to the other composites and most of the previously reported Co 3 O 4 based anode materials in LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An acid-assisted vacuum filtration approach is developed in this work to fabricate perylene diimide (PDI) and single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based organic lithium ion battery (LIB) cathodes by using concentrated sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4) as the solvent. PDI and SWCNT can be readily dispersed in H 2 SO 4 by the protonation of their aromatic frameworks, thus rendering the effective combination of them in the acidic solution. The resulting PDI/SWCNT films are highly appealing flexible cathodes for LIBs by associating the intriguing electrochemical activity of PDI with the excellent electric conductivity and mechanical stability of SWCNT. Either with lithium foils or pre-lithiated carbon clothes as the anodes, the LIBs with PDI/SWCNT cathodes can deliver highly stable electrochemical performances in terms of rate capability and cycling stability. The PDI/SWCNT cathodes also have very good mechanical stability, enabling the LIBs based on them to reserve the battery performances at different bending states. The excellent electrochemical stability of the PDI/SWCNT cathodes is attributable to the acidic solution based processing method, which is expected to be expanded in the electrode fabrication of various organic secondary batteries with π-conjugated components. An acid-assisted vacuum filtration approach is developed in this work to fabricate perylene diimide (PDI) and single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based flexible lithium ion battery (LIB) cathodes by using concentrated sulfuric acid as the solvent. The LIBs with the PDI/SWCNT cathodes manifest very stable electrochemical performances, attributable to the acidic solution based processing method. Image 1 • An acid-assisted vacuum filtration approach is developed to produce PDI/SWCNT cathodes. • PDI/SWCNT cathodes can deliver high capacities at high current densities. • LIBs with PDI/SWCNT cathodes show highly stable electrochemical performances. • LIBs with PDI/SWCNT cathodes also have very good flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]