Miroshnikov, MikhailKato, KeikoBabu, GanguliDivya, Kizhmuri P.Arava, Leela Mohana ReddyAjayan, Pulickel M.John, George2018-07-112018-07-112018Miroshnikov, Mikhail, Kato, Keiko, Babu, Ganguli, et al.. "A common tattoo chemical for energy storage: henna plant-derived naphthoquinone dimer as a green and sustainable cathode material for Li-ion batteries." <i>RSC Advances,</i> 8, (2018) The Royal Society of Chemistry: 1576-1582. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA12357D.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/102372The burgeoning energy demands of an increasingly eco-conscious population have spurred the need for sustainable energy storage devices, and have called into question the viability of the popular lithium ion battery. A series of natural polyaromatic compounds have previously displayed the capability to bind lithium via polar oxygen-containing functional groups that act as redox centers in potential electrodes. Lawsone, a widely renowned dye molecule extracted from the henna leaf, can be dimerized to bislawsone to yield up to six carbonyl/hydroxyl groups for potential lithium coordination. The facile one-step dimerization and subsequent chemical lithiation of bislawsone minimizes synthetic steps and toxic reagents compared to existing systems. We therefore report lithiated bislawsone as a candidate to advance non-toxic and recyclable green battery materials. Bislawsone based electrodes displayed a specific capacity of up to 130 mA h g−1 at 20 mA g−1 currents, and voltage plateaus at 2.1–2.5 V, which are comparable to modern Li-ion battery cathodes.engThis Open Access Article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported LicenceJournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA12357D