The Use of Porphyrins as Electrocatalyst in Lithium/Thionyl Chloride (Li/SOCl2) Battery

5–Mono–[4–(2–ethyl–p–hydroxy)ethoxyl] phenyl–10, 15, 20–triphenyl porphyrinH2Pp(3) and its metalloporphyrinsCuPp(3a )a nd ZnPp(3b) have been synthesized for high efficient catalysts to lithium/thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2) battery. The results indicate that these porphyrins can make the discharge time of the Li/SOCl2 battery increase by 480–780 s, and metal-free porphyrin H2Pp(3) exhibits the highest catalytic activity. In addition, the energy of the battery whose electrolyte contains the compounds increases by approximately 47–79% than that of the battery without them. Furthermore, the possible catalytic mechanism was also proposed.