Catalytic Activity of Binuclear Transition Metal Phthalocyanines in Electrolyte Operation of Lithium/Thionyl Chloride Battery

Two novel series of the binuclear transition metal phthalocyanines M 2 Pc 2 C and M 2 Pc 2 HcC (M = Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II)) have been developed for high efficient catalysts to lithium/thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl 2 ) battery. The energy of the battery whose electrolyte contains the binuclear compounds increases by approximately 10.05–82.63% than that of the battery without them. Especially the binuclear Fe 2 Pc 2 HcC, Mn 2 Pc 2 HcC and Co 2 Pc 2 C can cause the energy of the battery to maintain steadily and increase by 82.63%, 75.87% and 69.47% respectively. A new perspective on the catalytic mechanism of the binuclear metal phthalocyanines is conjectured. In order to further study the effect on Li/SOCl 2 battery cathode of the binuclear metal phthalocyanines, the SEM analysis of carbon film, carbon cathode without Ni 2 Pc 2 C and carbon cathode with Ni 2 Pc 2 C was conducted and analyzed. This paper makes a comparison between the catalytic activity of the binuclear compounds and the corresponding mononuclear compounds. All the results indicate that the catalytic activity of binuclear compounds in electrolyte operation is related to the phthalocyanine rings and electronic structures of the metal ions which are possible active sites. Only when there is enough number of active sites in the compounds and all the sites achieve an appropriate state through the synergistic effect, can the catalytic activity of the compounds achieve a very good display.