Columnar liquid-crystalline triazine-based dendrimer with carbon nanotube filler for efficient organic lithium-ion batteries

•A columnar liquid-crystalline triazine-based dendrimer has been incorporated as Li-ion battery anode.•The additional 1% carbon filler (CNT paper) in the triazine-based anode successfully boost the battery performance.•Systematical spectroscopic studies reveal that Li+ insertion in triazine and piperazine functional groups plays an important role in the Li+ storage mechanism.•The charge storage evaluation and kinetical studies unleashed the role of carbon filler on boosting capacitive contribution and accelerating Li+ transport. Owing to their highly tunable molecular structure and chemical stability, dendrimers consisting of triazine and piperazine moieties have been investigated. The present work describes the electrochemical performance of a columnar liquid-crystalline triazine-based dendrimer containing the linker with diaminopropane (DAP) as a lithium-ion battery anode. To elucidate the impact of conductive carbon filler in the electrode, a tiny amount of carbon nanotube (CNT) paper has been incorporated in the DAP anode. The battery performance revealed that the DAP anode has shown a high specific capacity of up to 444 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 200 cycles. Surprisingly, with an additional 1% CNT, the Li+ storage capacity of the dendrimer-based composite anode (DAP/CNT1%) significantly enhanced up to 656 mA h g−1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a triazine-based dendrimer has been utilized as an anode material in conjunction with a small amount of CNT to further boost its energy-storing capabilities through a synergy of capacitive storage mechanisms and improve Li+ transport. The efficient lithium storage of DAP/CNT composite further shows its amenability as organic electrode material for next-generation organic Li-ion batteries. [Display omitted]