Proton Capture and Relay Codesign Enables a pH-Neutral All-Organic Aqueous Proton Battery.

Authors

Jiyao Zhou, Jiapeng Zhao, Xinyue Deng, Xiaojing Sun, Hao Guo, Chenghui Sun, Weixiao Ji, Siping Pang, He Huang

Published in

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English). Pages e8800816. Sep 02, 2026. Epub Sep 02, 2026.

Abstract

Aqueous all-organic proton batteries promise safe, sustainable, and high-rate energy storage, but operation under near-neutral conditions is hindered by low proton activity and competition from nonproton charge carriers. Here, we report a proton capture and relay codesign strategy that enables proton-dominated charge storage without strongly acidic electrolytes. The electrode pair comprises two N-centered redox molecules with high proton affinity: an air-stable preprotonated imine cathode, DCTA-2H, and a low-potential azo anode, BCC. The electrolyte is concentrated NH₄OAc, a near-neutral proton-transfer medium in which NH₄ ⁺ forms hydrogen-bonded contacts with imine/azo sites and facilitates interfacial proton transfer rather than being stored predominantly as an intact ion. The resulting BCC||DCTA-2H full cell delivers a discharge voltage of ≈0.85 V and a capacity of 270.9 mAh g_BCC ^-1, retains 86.5% of its capacity after 3,000 cycles, and remains operable at -50°C. This work establishes coupled electrode-electrolyte design as a route to near-neutral all-organic aqueous proton batteries.

PMID:
42683672
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.

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