Molecular design of functional polymers for organic radical batteries

Abstract

The growing demand for energy storage devices calls for the development of more efficient and sustainable systems. As the current lithium-ion batteries present several safety issues, as well as environmental hazards, some alternatives need to be taken into consideration. The area of organic materials based batteries is gaining interest as they allow for the replacing of the currently used metals, with significant environmental impact at the levels of extractions and processing, by organic redox-active materials, that are recyclable and environmentally friendly. In this review, an overview on the most recent advances in the field of organic radical batteries is provided, focusing on the different battery components and describing the main used materials and processes. The relevance of this topic for the development of a next generation of sustainable energy storage systems and the main challenges currently limiting the use of these kind of batteries are also addressed.