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Ultrafast charging of two-dimensional polymer cathodes enabled by cross-flow structure design

Nature Chemistry volume 17, pages 1546–1555 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

While ultrafast charging and discharging is highly desired for energy storage, the densely packed crystalline inorganic electrodes suffer from sluggish ion transport that limits this capability. Here we report two-dimensional vertical ladder polymer cathode materials that feature layered nanosheets with rich intralayer pores and structural defects alongside weak interlayer interactions. This structural design allows lithium ions to migrate vertically across the intrinsic pores and/or defects accompanied by horizontal intercalation, thus establishing a cross-flow pathway for lithium storage. Such an effective ion-transport method enables flash charging of an ultrahigh-power polymer cathode to ~70% state-of-charge within 30 s at a high current density. Even operated at −50 °C, the polymer cathode achieves 3-min charging to ~55% state-of-charge. Furthermore, we propose an organic–inorganic hybrid strategy that overall improves the electrode-level specific energy at high rates for meeting practical metrics. This work demonstrates the potential of organic electrodes for high-power output under extreme operational conditions.

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Fig. 1: Cross-flow structure design for ultrafast-charging polymer cathodes.
Fig. 2: Structural characterization of 2DVLPs.
Fig. 3: Electrochemical performance of 2DVLPs.
Fig. 4: Li+ transport mechanism in 2DVLPs.
Fig. 5: Low-temperature performance of 2DVLPs.
Fig. 6: Improvement of electrode-level specific energy.

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Data availability

All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and Supplementary information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Testing Technology Center of Materials and Devices of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS) for providing the technical assistance on characterization. This work is financially supported by Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology (grant nos. 2023ZT10L039 and 2021QN02C070 to Z.C.), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant nos. KQTD20240729102048053 and JCYJ20220530143006014 to Z.C.) and the scientific research startup fund (grant nos. QD2021018C to Z.C. and QD2021029C to L.P.) and the cross-disciplinary research and innovation fund (grant no. JC2022006 to Z.C.) from Tsinghua SIGS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Materials Research, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P. R. China

    Xianming Deng, Li Liu, Qingxuan Chen, Xinming Zhang, Huimin Wu, Yongqi Chen, Tingzheng Hou, Ming Liu, Dong Zhou, Lele Peng & Zhen Chen

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China

    Xianming Deng, Li Liu, Qingxuan Chen, Xinming Zhang, Huimin Wu & Yongqi Chen

  3. School of Microelectronics, Jiangsu Vocational College of Information Technology, Wuxi, P. R. China

    Shuchao Zhang

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Contributions

X.D. and Z.C. conceived of the idea and designed the experiments. X.D. conducted the synthesis, characterization and measurements. L.L. conducted the partial synthesis and measurements. S.Z. and Q.C. performed the theoretical calculation. Y.C. and M.L. carried out the solid-state NMR experiments. X.Z., H.W., T.H., M.L., D.Z. and L.P. participated in the data analysis and discussion. Z.C. and L.P. led the project. X.D. and Z.C. drafted the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lele Peng or Zhen Chen.

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Competing interests

Tsinghua University and Z.C., X.D. and L.L. have filed a patent (no. 2024102707896) for the synthetic method of polymer cathodes reported in this paper. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Chemistry thanks Ji Eon Kwon, Qilei Song and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Method, Notes 1–3, Figs. 1–44 and Tables 1–6.

Supplementary Data 1

Cartesian coordination of modelling compounds.

Supplementary Data 2

CONTCAR of 2DVLPs associated with Li.

Source data

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Source Data Fig. 3

Raw data for Fig. 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

Raw data for Fig. 4.

Source Data Fig. 5

Raw data for Fig. 5.

Source Data Fig. 6

Raw data for Fig. 6.

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Deng, X., Liu, L., Zhang, S. et al. Ultrafast charging of two-dimensional polymer cathodes enabled by cross-flow structure design. Nat. Chem. 17, 1546–1555 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01899-5

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