ORGanic ANIONic rocking-chair batteries using small molecule electrode materials and their assessment for power delivery – ORGANION

To meet the ever-increasing electrical needs of our modern societies and in the absence of universal storage solution, any safe, clean and reliable way to store electricity could find a practical application whatever the energy scale considered. In this general context, fully organic batteries can provide new energy storage solutions with a lower environmental footprint. In particular, the development of molecular batteries with anion insertion presents a certain interest for the deployment of electrochemical storage systems without metals. Although such a configuration is not possible with most redox inorganic materials, the emergence of new organic redox electrode materials enables to envisage under a new angle these electrochemical storage devices.
Within the framework of this Franco-German project, our common ambition is to promote this type of anionic battery by using new organic host structures as electrode materials. After synthesis and characterization of such materials, we will assess their electrochemical performance, given the increased mobility of anions in polar aprotic medium. In practice, the new organic electrode materials will be developed and characterized (electrochemically) by the group of Birgit Esser (University of Freiburg, Germany). Suitable electrolytes will be identified and the electrochemical performance of the novel electrode materials evaluated in half cells. The group of Philippe Poizot (IMN, France) will investigate electrochemical and aging mechanisms of the resulting electrodes using advanced characterization tools (high resolution TEM, solid-state NMR, operando XRD, etc.). Then, by selecting the best electrode materials tested beforehand, thick electrodes will be prepared and assembled in complete anionic cells to evaluate their electrochemical performance, in particular in cycling and in power.