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Exploring Metastable Phases During Lithiation of Organic Battery Electrode Materials
Author(s) -
Carvalho Rodrigo P.,
Alhanash Mirna,
Marchiori Cleber F. N.,
Brandell Daniel,
Araujo C. Moyses
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.202200354
Subject(s) - dilithium , metastability , redox , cathode , density functional theory , battery (electricity) , electrode , organic radical battery , chemical physics , intercalation (chemistry) , chemistry , materials science , ion , computational chemistry , thermodynamics , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , physics , power (physics) , deprotonation
In this work, the Li‐ion insertion mechanism in organic electrode materials is investigated through the lens of atomic‐scale models based on first‐principles theory. Starting with a structural analysis, the interplay of density functional theory with evolutionary and potential‐mapping algorithms is used to resolve the crystal structure of the different (de)lithiated phases. These methods elucidate different lithiation reaction pathways and help to explore the formation of metastable phases and predict one‐ or multi‐electron reactions, which are still poorly understood for organic intercalation electrodes. The cathode material dilithium 2,5‐oxyterephthalate (operating at 2.6 V vs. Li/Li+) is investigated in depth as a case study, owing to its rich redox chemistry. When compared with recent experimental results, it is demonstrated that metastable phases with peculiar ring‐ring molecular interactions are more likely to be controlling the redox reactions thermodynamics and consequently the battery voltage.