PPPQ organic cathode

High-capacity long cycling

A heteroatom-substituted phenazine-based cathode with enhanced redox activity and stability for aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Qianqian, Wang · Li, Hongxi · Sun, Xuejiao · Jiahao, Huang · Dongmei, Li · Tian, Zhongzhen

Chemical Engineering Journal 2026

Specifications

Specific capacity

{'zh': '354', 'en': '354'} mAh g⁻¹

Capacity retention

{'zh': '95', 'en': '95'} %

Electron transfer number

{'zh': '6', 'en': '6'} e⁻

Advantages

High capacity

Introducing pyridinic N atoms modulates the electron-cloud distribution, narrows the HOMO–LUMO gap, and enhances electron delocalization, thereby improving redox activity.

Long cycling

The ortho-linked PPPQ exhibits stronger π-conjugation, more ordered π–π stacking, and lower dissolution, leading to 95% capacity retention after 2000 cycles.

Fast kinetics

Faster charge-transfer kinetics enable stable cycling at the high current density of 5 A g⁻¹.

Applications

• Aqueous zinc-ion batteries：Provide high-capacity and long-cycling organic cathode for AZIBs to enhance energy density and stability.
• Organic electrodes：Design organic electrodes via heteroatom substitution to overcome dissolution and conductivity limits.
• Functional polymer materials：As functional polymer electrode material, achieves high performance via molecular structure tuning.