Empowering organic-based negative electrode material based on conjugated lithium carboxylate through molecular design

In this article, we describe the design and gram-scale synthesis of a new anthracene-based negative electrode material for Li-ion batteries. Based on rational design, featuring a strong electronic delocalization and a long conjugation length, this material has power performance to date unmatched for a conjugated lithium carboxylate, displaying a gravimetric capacity of 150 mAh g^-1 at a cycling rate of 20 Li⁺ /h (10 C) without any electrode engineering. Additionally, to the design, partial solubility of the fully reduced phase may also explain the electrochemical performances obtained at a low and high rate.