Aromatic porous-honeycomb electrodes for a sodium-organic energy storage device.

Rechargeable batteries using organic electrodes and sodium as a charge carrier can be high-performance, affordable energy storage devices due to the abundance of both sodium and organic materials. However, only few organic materials have been found to be active in sodium battery systems. Here we report a high-performance sodium-based energy storage device using a bipolar porous organic electrode constituted of aromatic rings in a porous-honeycomb structure. Unlike typical organic electrodes in sodium battery systems, the bipolar porous organic electrode has a high specific power of 10 kW kg(-1), specific energy of 500 Wh kg(-1), and over 7,000 cycle life retaining 80% of its initial capacity in half-cells. The use of bipolar porous organic electrode in a sodium-organic energy storage device would significantly enhance cost-effectiveness, and reduce the dependency on limited natural resources. The present findings suggest that bipolar porous organic electrode provides a new material platform for the development of a rechargeable energy storage technology.