The electrochemical redox mechanism of the OTQC was investigated with the use of ex-situ FT-IR measurements of the electrodes in different states of charge (Figure ). The electrodes (60 wt.% OTQC, 30 wt.% Printex XE2 carbon black, and 10 wt.% PTFE) were taken out from the Swagelok cells after initial cycles and measured in an argon atmosphere using KBr pellets in transmittance mode. The results of the ex-situ FT-IR analysis were interpreted with the help of a literature review of similar reported structures. The FT-IR spectrum of the pristine electrode exhibits a strong peak at 1714 cm -1 attributed to the carbonyl (C=O) stretching vibrations in the OTQC. The peak disappears during discharging from 3.8 V to 2.6 V (Figure ,b, green), which together with the emergence of the peaks at around 1404 cm -1 and 1455 To test the solubility of the OTQC, ex-situ UV-VIS measurements of the electrodes in different states of charge were performed (Figure ). Solubility of the electrodes at different states of charge (voltage vs. Li) is in the following order (3.8 V >>> 2.6 V ≅ 1.65 V) indicating that the dissolution of the charged species could present the main cause of capacity fading. SEM imaging of electrodes after cycling was used to observe potential variations in the electrode structure and morphological features. Results show that the integrality of the electrode is maintained even after 450 cycles (Figure ). However, there is cracking present around some particles in all of the cycled samples, which may be a consequence of volume expansions caused by swelling that occurs during cycling. SEM images of pristine OTQC powder are shown in Figure .