Bio-Based Polyhydroxyanthraquinones as High-Voltage Organic Electrode Materials for Batteries

[Image: see text] Organic materials have gained much attention as sustainable electrode materials for batteries. Especially bio-based organic electrode materials (OEMs) are very interesting due to their geographical independency and low environmental impact. However, bio-based OEMs for high-voltage batteries remain scarce. Therefore, in this work, a family of bio-based polyhydroxyanthraquinones (PHAQs)—namely 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydroxyanthraquinone (OHAQ), 1,2,3,5,6,7-hexahydroxyanthraquinone (HHAQ), and 2,3,6,7-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone (THAQ)—and their redox polymers were synthesized. These PHAQs were synthesized from plant-based precursors and exhibit both a high-potential polyphenolic redox couple (3.5–4.0 V vs Li/Li(+)) and an anthraquinone redox moiety (2.2–2.8 V vs Li/Li(+)), while also showing initial charging capacities of up to 381 mAh g(–1). To counteract the rapid fading caused by dissolution into the electrolyte, a facile polymerization method was established to synthesize PHAQ polymers. For this, the polymerization of HHAQ served as a model reaction where formaldehyde, glyoxal, and glutaraldehyde were tested as linkers. The resulting polymers were investigated as cathode materials in lithium metal batteries. PHAQ polymer composites synthesized using formaldehyde as linker and 10 wt % multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), namely poly(THAQ–formaldehyde)–10 wt % MWCNTs and poly(HHAQ–formaldehyde)–10 wt % MWCNTs, exhibited the best cycling performance in the lithium metal cells, displaying a high-voltage discharge starting at 4.0 V (vs Li/Li(+)) and retaining 81.6 and 77.3 mAh g(–1), respectively, after 100 cycles.