Activated carbon with a melamine-based covalent organic framework for high-performance aluminum-ion batteries
Journal
Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Journal Volume
1075
Start Page
189117
ISSN
09258388
Date Issued
2026-07-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) with organic electrodes are considered to be promising in the field of energy storage. However, traditional organic compounds suffer from limitations because of the limited number of active sites and sluggish reaction kinetics, leading to insignificant rate capabilities of AIBs. The current work represents a composite of covalent-organic framework (COF) melamine-4,4’-oxybisbenzoic acid (MA-OBA) and activated carbon (AC) as the cathode material, which is combined with a composite of Al and AC as the anode for an AIB. The MA-OBA framework has functional groups such as (-C=N-), triazine nitrogen units, and (-O-) bridges. Thus, the combination of MA-OBA with conductive AC endows the cathode material with numerous active sites, enabling rapid diffusion of AlCl4- ions while maintaining structural integrity. The Al/AC composite synergistically stabilizes the interfacial properties and reduces the electrical resistance and voltage drop at the Al anode. Owing to these advantages, the AIB in this work displays a discharge capacity of 261 mAh g−1 at 1.6 mA g−1, and retains 95% of the initial capacity even after 10,000 cycles. XRD analysis confirms that the COF framework maintains crystallinity before and after cycling. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows evidence of AlCl4- interaction with active sites of the COF. Furthermore, the galvanostatic intermittent titration technique shows that the diffusion coefficient is ∼10−9 cm2 s−1, indicating fast transport of AlCl4- ions within the framework. To mitigate the kinetic and stability limitations in AIBs, this work reveals that integrating activated carbon into the redox-active COF is a feasible approach.
Subjects
AC composites
Al-ion
Anion intercalation
Covalent-organic framework
Cycling stability
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Type
journal article