The Use of Porphyrins as Electrocatalyst in Lithium/Thionyl Chloride (Li/SOCl2) Battery

5-Mono-[4-(2-ethyl-p-hydroxy)ethoxyl] phenyl-10, 15, 20-triphenyl porphyrin H(2)Pp(3) and its metalloporphyrins CuPp(3a) and ZnPp(3b) have been synthesized for high efficient catalysts to lithium/thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2) battery. The results indicate that these porphyrins can make the discharge time of the Li/SOCl2 battery increase by 480-780 s, and metal-free porphyrin H(2)Pp(3) exhibits the highest catalytic activity. In addition, the energy of the battery whose electrolyte contains the compounds increases by approximately 47-79% than that of the battery without them. Furthermore, the possible catalytic mechanism was also proposed. (C) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.