From Metal-Organic Framework to Porous Carbon Polyhedron: Toward Highly Reversible Lithium Storage

By application of a newly designed T-shaped ligand 5-(4-pyridin-4-yl-benzoylamino)isophthalic acid (H₂PBAI) to assemble with Zn(II) ions under solvothermal conditions, a novel porous polyhedral metal-organic framework (Zn-PBAI) with pcu topology has been obtained. When treated as a precursor by annealing of Zn-PBAI at various temperatures, porous carbon polyhedra (PCP) were prepared and tested as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The results show that PCP carbonized at 1000 °C (PCP-1000) manifest the highest reversible specific capacity of about 1125 mAh g^-1 at a current of 500 mA g^-1 after 200 cycles, which is supposed to benefit from the large accessible specific area and high electric conductivity. Moreover, PCP-1000 electrode materials also exhibit superior cyclic stability and good rate capacity.