The modern world heavily relies on energy storage devices to live a comfortable life. However, with the increasing environmental problems, it is getting more imminent that battery technologies become more sustainable. Thus, they need to be easily disposable, cheap and made up of available elements in abundance. Organic batteries are the ones with the greatest potential in this aspect. Organic cathode materials have advantageous characteristics such as storing large amounts of energy per mass unit and can be charged quickly, and high durability. Moreover, they can also be produced at an industrial scale without the need for sophisticated technology. But the problem with these batteries is that they still remain an underdeveloped option that hasn’t be explored fully yet.
Looking at this situation, recent research has brought forth a simple redox-active polyimide. This can turn out to be a huge breakthrough for Battery Market as the new organic material could help develop the next generation of energy storage devices with a structure that follows an intricate molecular design principle.
To arrive with the new organic material, the team synthesized a blend of two reagents that are easily accessible, namely, meta-phenylenediamine and an aromatic dianhydride. The material was able to display exciting features in several energy storage devices such as potassium-, lithium-and sodium-based batteries. It showed high specific capacities (till about ~140 mAh/g), comparatively high redox possibilities. Furthermore, characteristics like cycling stability (till about 1000 cycles) and ability to charge quickly (<1 min).
The energy and power outputs of the new organic material developed were noted to be far superior to isomer (derived from para-phenylenediamine) known previously. The team stated two reasons for the improved performance of the new polyimide. Firstly, smaller articles were present with a much higher specific surface area. This collectively facilitated diffusion of the charge carriers. Secondly, neighbor imide units’ spatial arrangement inside the polymer helped it to become more energetically favorable in binding the metal ions, resulting in increased redox potentials.
Through this research, the team has proposed a new molecular design principle, particularly for battery polyimides which use aromatic molecules along with amino groups in Meta positions for the purpose of building blocks. For a long time, scientists showed very little attention towards structural motifs used in the present motif; instead, they were inclined to use para-phenylenediamine or similar structures. The results achieved by the team are a big indication that battery polyimides need to be better understood and designed at the molecular level understanding. In fact, it may as well lead to cathode materials with much better characteristics.