Relay Storage of Protons and Zinc Ions Enables Practical High‐Mass‐Loading Organic Electrodes
Rechargeable Zn-organic batteries hold great promise for sustainable energy storage, yet most reported high performances are achieved only at low mass loadings (2-3 mg cm<sup>-2</sup>), far from practical application. Here, we investigate poly(benzoquinonyl sulfide) (PBQS) electrodes working in a water-in-salt electrolyte and reveal that PBQS first undergoes faradaic proton insertion during discharge, which is subsequently displaced by Zn<sup>2+</sup>, releasing protons back into the electrolyte. This dynamic relay allows a small amount of H<sup>+</sup> to cycle repeatedly, acting as a kinetic buffer that offset the sluggish diffusion of Zn<sup>2+</sup>. Owing to this mechanism and PBQS's high conductivity, a low-carbon (10 wt.%) PBQS electrode with an ultrahigh mass loading of 100 mg cm<sup>-2</sup> delivers a capacity of 187.1 mAh g<sup>-1</sup> (∼96% of low-loading capacity) and achieves a record areal capacity of 18 mAh cm<sup>-2</sup>. The electrode also exhibits excellent rate capability and cycling stability, suggesting its strong potential for practical applications.
Authors
- Taoyi Kong
- Shouyi Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1480-2966)
- Kang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9353-4217)
- Zhi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4760-842X)
- Xiaomeng Yu
- Penglin Wang
- Shuai Gu
- Yae Qi
- Qiang Zhu
- Lei Yan
- Yonggang Wang
- Jing Ma
Institutions
- Ningbo University (CN)
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (CN)
- Ministry of Education and Child Care (CA)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-02-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.8137922
- Primary Topic
- Advanced battery technologies research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00