Recent Progress in Polymeric Carbonyl‐Based Electrode Materials for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Advancement in mobile electronics is driving progress in lithium ion batteries. Recently, organic electrode materials have emerged as promising candidates for lithium ion batteries due to their high theoretical capacity, ease of synthesis, versatility of structure, and abundance. Polymerization is a strategy used to overcome the issues associated with small organic molecules for charge storage application. The focus of this review is on the most recent progress in the field of polymeric carbonyl materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Advantages of organic electrode materials, device architecture, and charge storage mechanism are discussed. Challenges associated with carbonyl‐based electrodes and some recent solutions are outlined. Later, a comparison of theoretical capacity, practical capacity, and cyclic life are presented for different carbonyl systems. Capacity‐fading phenomena and structural degradation during charging are discussed where necessary. Some key parameters for the design of flexible batteries are highlighted and an overview of some recent contributions of our group in this field are reported. Finally, some future prospects for researchers in this field are outlined.

An Insoluble Anthraquinone Dimer with Near‐Plane Structure as a Cathode Material for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…Generally, the reactive sites of quinone‐based electrode materials are carbonyl groups (C=O), as shown in Figure a . Herein, the lithiation/delithiation of BAQB was further elucidated by ex situ FTIR spectroscopy, which is a powerful tool to identify the variation of C=O bonds.…”

Benzoquinone‐ and Naphthoquinone‐Bearing Polymers Synthesized by Ring‐Opening Metathesis Polymerization as Cathode Materials for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…Generally, the active sites of quinones are the carbonyl groups, which undergo enolate formation and delocalization of negative charge over conjugated units during discharge (Figure a) . The reaction mechanism of poly(NBE‐NQ) was further explored by characterizing the electrodes in different discharge and recharge states by ex situ FTIR spectroscopy (Figure b).…”

“…However, their high solubility in the organic electrolytes used in LIBs leads to fast capacity decay and seriously hampers their practical applications . To address the dissolution issue, many efforts have been made, including using selective separators, optimizing electrolytes, grafting organic molecules onto a solid support, and polymerizing small redox‐active units into polymers . Among them, polymerization is a promising approach that could effectively alleviate the dissolution problem and improve the electrochemical performance.…”

Sustainable Battery Materials from Biomass

“…Thus, in many reports, organic electrode materials are per se denoted “green” or “sustainable”. A plethora of reviews have summarized recent trends in organic electrode materials . Most reports however do not focus on biomass‐based materials but describe materials derived from petrochemicals.…”