Synthesis of an Sp-Carbon-Rich Carbonaceous Material Exhibiting Distinctive Anode Performance

Among carbon allotropes, carbyne, composed solely of sp-hybridized carbon atoms, has garnered significant interest due to its potential unique physical and chemical properties. Nevertheless, the synthesis of carbyne or its analogs remains a persistent challenge, hindering further exploration in this area. Herein, a straightforward synthesis method is proposed to prepare TMS-capped sp-carbon hybridized carbonaceous material (TMS-C). Trimethylsilylacetylene (TMSA) with two types of bond-cleaving spots was used as the precursor to obtain TMS-C via a one-pot coupling reaction. TMS not only inhibits side reactions but can also be cleaved to generate reaction intermediates participating in subsequent coupling reactions via a copper catalyst. The as-synthesized TMS-C contains conjugated linear acetylene bonds composed of over 92 continuous sp-hybridized carbon atoms. Due to the large amount of sp-hybridized carbon atoms, the lithium (Li)-ion half-cell prepared based on TMS-C delivered an impressive reversible capacity of approximately 3219 mA h g⁻¹ at a current density of 50 mA g⁻¹, and at a high current density of 5000 mA g⁻¹, it can be stably cycled 8865 times. Our results reveal immense promise for developing methodologies capable of cutting multiple types of bonds within a single reaction system for the synthesis of carbyne-based materials.