(644b) Redox-Active Polymers for Affordable, Fast-Charging, and Sustainable Batteries

Due to the demands for carbon neutrality and energy sustainability, developing sustainable batteries as alternatives to commercial Li-ion batteries is critical to minimize the cost, carbon footprint, and energy consumption from battery production and recycling. To this end, the low-cost, lightweight, and abundant materials such as polymers offer numerous opportunities for next-generation sustainable battery technologies such as organic batteries. This presentation will focus on redox-active polymers with one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional structures and various porosities for rechargeable battery applications. Linear and porous polymers bearing different functional groups such as carbonyl, azo, and amine groups were synthesized and exploited as cathode materials in Na-ion, K-ion, multivalent metal batteries, and redox-flow batteries. Their electrochemical performances, reaction mechanisms, interphase structures, and the impact of multi-functional groups in redox-active polymers to the electrochemical performance were systematically studied. To provide guidance for structure design and performance optimization, structure-performance correlations and polymeric structure design rationale for redox-active polymers in organic batteries will also be covered. Due to high stability, abundant structural diversity, and flexible structural tunability of polymers, the newly devised polymer cathodes can be applied in batteries under extreme conditions such as fast charging and a wide operating temperature range. The performances and viability of redox-active polymers for extreme organic batteries will also be discussed. Our work demonstrates that redox-active polymers are promising electrode materials for affordable, fast-charging, and sustainable batteries.