Outstanding Lithium Storage Performance of a Copper-Coordinated Metal-Covalent Organic Framework as Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Metal-covalent organic frameworks (MCOF) as a bridge between covalent organic framework (COF) and metal organic framework (MOF) possess the characteristics of open metal sites, structure stability, crystallinity, tunability as well as porosity, but still in its infancy. In this work, a covalent organic framework DT-COF with a keto-enamine structure synthesized from the condensation of 3,3′-dihydroxybiphenyl diamine (DHBD) and triformylphloroglucinol (TFP) was coordinated with Cu²⁺ by a simple post-modification method to a obtain a copper-coordinated metal-covalent organic framework of Cu-DT COF. The isomerization from a keto-enamine structure of DT-COF to a enol-imine structure of Cu-DT COF is induced due to the coordination interaction of Cu²⁺. The structure change of Cu-DT COF induces the change of the electron distribution in the Cu-DT COF, which greatly promotes the activation and deep Li-storage behavior of the COF skeleton. As anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), Cu-DT COF exhibits greatly improved electrochemical performance, retaining the specific capacities of 760 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles and 505 mAh g⁻¹ after 500 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A g⁻¹. The preliminary lithium storage mechanism studies indicate that Cu²⁺ is also involved in the lithium storage process. A possible mechanism for Cu-DT COF was proposed on the basis of FT-IR, XPS, EPR characterization and electrochemical analysis. This work enlightens a novel strategy to improve the energy storage performance of COF and promotes the application of COF and MCOF in LIBs.