Sulfur-linked carbonyl polymer as a robust organic cathode for rapid and durable aluminum batteries

Rechargeable aluminum batteries are believed as a promising next-generation energy-storage system due to abundant low-cost Al sources and high volumetric specific capacity.The Al-storage cathodes,however,are plagued by strong electrostatic interaction between host materials and carrier ions,leading to large overpotential and undesired cycling stability as well as sluggish ion diffusion kinetics.Herein,sulfur-linked carbonyl polymer based on perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride(PTCDA) as the cathode materials for ABs is proposed,which demonstrates a small voltage polarization(135 mV),a reversible capacity of 110 mAh g^(-1) at 100 mA g^(-1) even after 1200 cycles,and rapid Al-storage kinetics.Compared with PTCDA,the sulfide polymer possesses higher working voltage because of its lower LUMO energy level according to theoretical calculation.The ordered carbonyl active sites in sulfide polymer contribute to the maximized material utilization and rapid ion coordination and dissociation,resulting in superior rate capability.Besides,the bridged thioether bonds endow the polysulfide with robust and flexible structure,which inhibits the dissolution of active materials and improves cycling stability.This work implies the importance of ordered arrangement of redox active moieties for organic electrode,which provides the theoretical direction for the structural design of organic materials applied in multivalent-ion batteries.

Control of photocurrent and multi-state memory by polar order engineering in 2H-stackedα-In_(2)Se_(3) ferroelectric

Controlling the polar order in ferroelectric materials may enrich the diversity of their property and functionality,offering new opportunities for the design of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices.In this paper,we report a planar multi-state memory device built upon a twodimensional(2D)van der Waals layered ferroelectric material,2Hα-In_(2)Se_(3).Three(high,median and low)resistance states are demonstrated to be interconvertible in this device with a fast switching speed,excellent endurance and retention performances via the modulation of the polar order of the ferroelectricα-In_(2)Se_(3) layers under an in-plane electric field.Remarkably,reversible switching between the median-resistance state and the low-resistance state can be achieved by an ultralow electric field of 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller than the reported values in other 2D ferroelectric materialbased memory devices.Furthermore,the three different polar order states are discovered to exhibit distinctive photoresponses.These results demonstrate great potentials ofα-In_(2)Se_(3)in nonvolatile high-density memory and advanced optoelectronic device applications.