An Investigation of Conjugated Sulfonamide Materials as Binders for Organic Lithium-Ion Batteries

Organic electrode materials have emerged as promising solutions for numerous energy applications. However, their full utility is impeded by their limited stability and inherently poor conductivity. To address these issues, one approach is to use functional conjugated polymers to replace the conventional insulating poly-(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) binder that may facilitate ion/electron transport and stabilize the electrode. In this study, we report the synthesis of a series of sulfonamide pi-conjugated small molecules, linear oligomers, and two-dimensional polymers and their subsequent use as binder materials for organic electrodes. We observe an enhanced specific capacity in a perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) composite electrode. The impact of dimensionality is evaluated through the battery performance. The two-dimensional sulfonamide polymer affords a 3-fold improvement in capacity retention compared to PVDF. The results presented in this work highlight that sulfonamide-containing materials are promising candidates as metal ion battery binders and that dimensionality is a key parameter for their use in lithium-ion batteries.