Talk given by

Prof. Kunio Awaga
Department of Chemistry
Research Center for Materials Science
Nagoya University
Nagoya, Japan

Abstract:

Redox activity in molecule-based materials is attracting much attention in the research of rechargeable batteries, in which the structural robustness of these materials in electrochemical reactions would be the key to opening their practical application. From this perspective, we have been examining various transition-metal cluster complexes (molecular clusters), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent-organic frameworks (COFs) as promising materials to realize high energy-density and high power-density electrical energy storage. In this presentation, we report the performance of the molecular clusters and MOFs as cathode active materials for rechargeable Li batteries. Various operando measurements reveal that nano-hybridization between polyoxometalates (POMs) and nano-carbons induces a synergetic effect between the redox activity of the POMs and the capacitance of the nano-carbons, enhancing the battery capacity significantly, and that coexistence of redox activity on the metal ions and organic ligands in a MOF realizes a “bipolar charging” mechanism in Li batteries. We also report on Li-S batteries stabilized by MOFs and COFs.