Versatile Redox-Active Organic Materials for Rechargeable Energy Storage

With the ever-increasing demand on energy storage systems and subsequent mass production, there is an urgent need for the development of batteries with not only improved electrochemical performance but also better sustainability-related features such as environmental friendliness and low production cost. To date, transition metals that are sparse have been centrally employed in energy storage devices ranging from portable lithium ion batteries (e.g., cobalt and nickel) to large-scale redox flow batteries (e.g., vanadium). Toward the sustainable battery chemistry, there are ongoing efforts to replace the transition metal-based electrode materials in these systems to redox-active organic materials (ROMs). Most ROMs are composed of the earth abundant elements (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur), thus are less restrained by the resource, and their production does not require high-energy…