Structural diversity and surface state of biopolymers used as high-performance cathodes for lithium batteries

This study presents groundbreaking and revolutionary advancements in lithium battery technology by introducing biopolymers as innovative cathode materials, which makes it possible to achieve extremely high discharge parametrs in practice. Biopolymer cathodes are polypeptide compounds with small molecular weights, containing an average of 140-150 amino acid residues, that are adapted to lithium batteries and outperform conventional commercial cathodes, yielding significantly higher capacity and energy per unit mass. Testing of biopolymer cathodes revealed specific discharge capacities of 2920 mA h/g and specific discharge energy of 5580 mW h/g, surpassing all known types of cathode materials. The high discharge parameters stem from the structural diversity and the highly developed surface state of biopolymers, that is displayed the presence of a large number of electrochemically active components capable of current-generating reactions with lithium ions, including functional groups of aliphatic hydrocarbons, carboxyl, amide residues and others. The approach of using electrochemically active biopolymers proposed in the study opens up prospects for the construction of the new types ecological and high-energy conversion systems based on cascade of current-generating mechanisms. Overall, this research provides significant insights into the structural and electrochemical properties of active polymeric organic compounds when used as cathode components for high-capacity lithium batteries, including the kinetic characteristics of discharge that ensure to capacity formation.