Environmentally Sustainable Aluminum-Coordinated Poly(tetrahydroxybenzoquinone) as a Promising Cathode for Sodium Ion Batteries

Na-ion batteries are attractive as an alternative to Li-ion batteries because of their lower cost. Organic compounds have been considered as promising electrode materials due to their environmental friendliness and molecular diversity. Herein, aluminum-coordinated poly(tetrahydroxybenzoquinone) (P(THBQ-Al)), one of the coordination polymers, is introduced for the first time as a promising cathode for Na-ion batteries. P(THBQ-Al) is synthesized through a facile coordination reaction between benzoquinonedihydroxydiolate (C 6 O 6 H 2 2– ) and Al 3+ as ligands and complex metal ions, respectively. Tetrahydroxybenzoquinone is environmentally sustainable, because it can be obtained from natural resources such as orange peels. Benzoquinonedihydroxydiolate also contributes to delivering high reversible capacity, because each benzoquinonedihydroxydiolate unit is capable of two electron reactions …