In the not too distant future, the problem of battery recycling will rise to its full extent. One of the ways out of this situation may be organic materials in the composition of batteries, which can be easily and safely recycled. Scientists from Skoltech and their colleagues were among the first to propose promising materials for batteries. Moreover, Russian scientists have presented a universal approach for synthesizing materials with better properties.

Fragment of the cover of the ACS Applied Energy Materials magazine, dedicated to the research of Russian scientists. Source: ACS Applied Energy Materials

The direction of organic cathode materials is poorly researched, says Skoltech. If you seriously tackle their development, you can achieve impressive results. Published in the edition ACS Applied Energy Materials In the article, the researchers told how they were able to synthesize organic material for cathodes of lithium, sodium and potassium batteries with a specific capacity of up to 140 mAh / g, stability up to 1000 charge and discharge cycles and the ability to quickly charge in less than 1 minute.

Scientists have proposed a simple redox-active polyimide, which was obtained by heating a mixture of two available components – aromatic dianhydride and meta-phenylenediamine. The material has proven to be attractive in terms of its characteristics in various energy storage systems, not just lithium ones. This is all the more important since the reserves of lithium on Earth are limited, and this metal cannot be considered as a long-term prospect.

“This work is interesting not just because we investigated a new organic cathode material, – says the author of the development, Skoltech graduate student Roman Kapaev, “We have proposed a new molecular design principle for polyimides for batteries, using aromatic molecules with amine groups in meta positions as building blocks.” The work clarified aspects that make it possible to better understand in which direction to work in order to obtain materials with the best properties. The path is shown, someone will definitely reach an interesting result along it.