An investigation on the impact of halidization on substituted dimethoxybenzenes. (1st March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kowalski, Jeffrey A.; Carney, Thomas J.; Huang, Jinhua; Zhang, Lu; Brushett, Fikile R.
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 335(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03-01
• Subjects: Electroactive organic -- High potential -- Halidization -- Molecular engineering; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2019.135580
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Abstract: Functionalized organic molecules are emerging as charge storage materials in electrochemical technologies as the breadth and diversity of the organic design space offers the possibility of purpose-built materials with property sets optimized for a particular application. First developed as overcharge protection materials in lithium-ion batteries, substituted dialkoxybenzenes represent a potentially promising molecular platform for advancing soluble charge storage materials. Here, we systematically substitute a series of halide groups at the 2- and 5-positions of the 1, 4-dimethoxybenzene core, investigate the impact the halide groups have on molecular properties using electrochemical and spectroscopy methods, and compare these results to those of 2, 5-dimethyl-1, 4-dimethoxybenzene (25DDB), a previously reported derivative. In general, we observe that introduction of heavy halogen atoms leads to decreased gravimetric capacity as compared to 25DDB, but concomitantly improves solubility and redox potentials. As the halide functional group increases in size, the active material becomes less stable in its oxidized state as evinced by both cyclic voltammetry and bulk electrolysis cycling. None of the halogenated species are as stable as 25DDB indicating that these materials may be better suited for applications with more rapid cycling conditions (e.g., redox shuttling). More broadly, these results may serve as a useful data set for computational methods for materials discovery and optimization. Graphical abstract: Image 1