Herringbone packed contorted aromatics with ordered three-dimensional channels as fast-charging and low-temperature lithium-ion battery anodes

Abstract

The long transmission pathways and slow lithium-ion insertion process are the main challenges of anode materials for fast-charging and low-temperature lithium-ion batteries. Herein, hierarchical supramolecular structures with a herringbone packing motif were achieved in the self-assembled crystals of contorted hexabenzocoronene octa-ketone (c-HBC-8O) through C–H⋯π interactions. Due to the formation of ordered three-dimensional lithium-ion transport channels, c-HBC-8O yielded a lithium-ion diffusion coefficient of up to 4.1 × 10⁻⁸ cm² s⁻¹, which is one order of magnitude higher than those of previously reported organic anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. As a proof-of-concept, the c-HBC-8O anode delivered outstanding fast-charging ability, high capacity and durable cycle stability of 298.3 mA h g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ after 3000 cycles (25 °C) and 320 mA h g⁻¹ at 200 mA g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles even at low temperature (−20 °C). The present strategy opens up new approaches for the design of π-conjugated anode materials for lithium-ion batteries based on weak C–H⋯π interactions.