Initiating a High-Rate and Stable Aqueous Air Battery by Using Organic N-Heterocycle Anode

Alkaline metal-air batteries are advantageous in high voltage, low cost, and high safety. However, metal anodes are heavily eroded in strong alkaline electrolytes, causing serious side reactions including dendrite growth, passivation, and hydrogen evolution. To address this limitation, we successfully synthesized an organic N-heterocycle compound (NHCC) to serve as an alternative anode. This compound not only exhibits remarkable stability but also possesses a low redox potential (-1.04 V vs. Hg/HgO) in alkaline environments. To effectively complement the low redox potential of the NHCC anode, we designed a dual-salt highly concentrated electrolyte (4.0 M KOH+10.0 M KCF₃ SO₃ ). This electrolyte expands the electrochemical stability window to 2.3 V through the robust interaction between the O atom in H₂ O molecule with the K⁺ of KCF₃ SO₃ (H-O⋅⋅⋅KCF₃ SO₃ ). We further demonstrated the K⁺ uptaken/extraction storage mechanism of NHCC anodes. Consequently, the alkaline aqueous NHCC anode-air batteries delivers a high battery voltage of 1.6 V, high-rate performance (101.9 mAh g^-1 at 100 A g^-1 ) and long cycle ability (30,000 cycles). Our work offers a molecular engineering strategy for superior organic anode materials and develops a novel double superconcentrated conductive salt electrolyte for the construction of high-rate, long-cycle alkaline aqueous organic anode-air batteries.