Organic Electrode Materials for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Abstract

Organic compounds offer new possibilities for high energy/power density, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and functional rechargeable lithium batteries. For a long time, they have not constituted an important class of electrode materials, partly because of the large success and rapid development of inorganic intercalation compounds. In recent years, however, exciting progress has been made, bringing organic electrodes to the attention of the energy storage community. Herein thirty years' research efforts in the fi eld of organic compounds for rechargeable lithium batteries are summarized. The working principles, development history, and design strategies of these materials, including organosulfur compounds, organic free radical compounds, organic carbonyl compounds, conducting polymers, non-conjugated redox polymers, and layered organic compounds are presented. The cell performances of these materials are compared, providing a comprehensive overview of the area, and straightforwardly revealing the advantages/disadvantages of each class of materials.

Aromatic porous-honeycomb electrodes for a sodium-organic energy storage device

“…5). Another even more effective approach to improving affordability is to replace the current metal-based electrodes with organic materials [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] that are more abundant in nature. Since the advent of conductive polymers 28 and reversible redox polymers 22 , a large number of p-, n-and bipolar organic electrodes have been investigated for energy storage devices due to their low-cost and possible applications in flexible plastic batteries 21 .…”

Advancing Electrolytes Towards Stable Organic Batteries

“…Sato et al fabricated a bulk-type all-solid-state cell with LiBH4 as the solid-state electrolyte, [6]cyclo-2,7-naphthylene as the cathode active material, and lithium as the anode. [37] The cell saw a capacity retention of 95% after cycling at ~0.6 C at 120 C for 65 cycles.…”

“…These efforts have been summarized in several recent review articles. [6][7][8][9] However, these strategies inevitably decrease the specific capacity of the molecules due to the added weight of redoxinactive auxiliary groups. To keep the specific capacity high, the molecular structure of active materials must stay minimalist, and the task of solubility reduction would need to be fulfilled by the other component: the electrolyte.…”

Recent Advances in the Use of Carbonyl Compounds as Active Components in Organic-Based Batteries

“…It is therefore essential that these toxic materials be replaced with non-toxic, biodegradable materials so that they can become more sustainable and less hazardous to the environment. Similarly, the growing markets for thin, small and lightweight portable devices also require battery systems of similar properties with flexibility of applications [16]. In order to satisfy such requirements, several rechargeable battery designs were invented and extensively studied in which inorganic-based batteries such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) emerged as a technology of choice for portable electronics, power tools, and hybrid/full electric vehicles because it has an unmatchable combination of high energy and power density, slow self-discharge, and long cycle life [17,18].…”

“…In recent years, several promising approaches for organic materialbased battery systems have been investigated [20][21][22], including extensive exploration of organic carbonyl compounds as high-energy cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries owing to their redox stability, structural diversity, high theoretical capacities, and infinite availability from biomass [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Generally, organic electrode materials can be categorized into different types based on their electrochemically active functional groups involved during redox reaction, which includes conjugated carbonyl compounds, conducting polymers, organosulfides and free radicals.…”