Highly Stable Cyclic Performance of Benzoquinone‐Based Organic Cathode in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries

Abstract An organic polymer, poly‐(2,3‐dithio‐1,4‐Benzoquinone) (PDBQ) was synthesized through condensation polymerization and characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, FT‐IR, BET, TGA, NMR and XPS. FT‐IR results displayed the carbonyl and thio functionality of the material, elemental composition, and chemical states were confirmed by XPS and EDS. The material exhibited a sheet‐like interconnected morphology and good thermal stability. The fabricated cathode delivered a high specific capacity of 157.39 mAh g −1 at a current density of 100 mAg −1 with high reversibility in full‐cell aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs). The congenital soft structure enhances the reversibility, Zn +2 insertion‐desertion, and stability of the electrode material in coin‐cell batteries. Owing to these characteristics the battery delivered higher stability with capacity retention of 97.65 % after 1500 cycles and remained at 73.2 % after 20,000 cycles at a high current density of 2.0 Ag −1 with almost 100 % columbic efficiency. The energy storage behavior of the fabricated cathode was further studied by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, as well as the charge storage mechanism through ex‐situ FT‐IR, EDS, and XPS. These results are promising to achieve the objective of stable organic material as a cathode for AZIBs.