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Bipolar porous polymers bearing carbonyl and amine groups were designed and synthesized as cathode materials in Na-ion and K-ion batteries, demonstrating great promise for high-performance and sustainable batteries.

 

Redox‐active polymers (RAPs) are promising organic electrode materials for affordable and sustainable batteries due to their flexible chemical structures and negligible solubility in the electrolyte. Developing high‐dimensional RAPs with porous structures and crosslinkers can further improve their stability and redox capability by reducing the solubility and enhancing reaction kinetics. This work reports two three‐dimensional (3D) RAPs as stable organic cathodes in Na‐ion batteries (NIBs) and K‐ion batteries (KIBs). Carbonyl functional groups are incorporated into the repeating units of the RAPs by the polycondensation of Tetrakis(4‐aminophenyl)methane and two different dianhydrides. The RAPs with interconnected 3D extended conjugation structures undergo multi‐electron redox reactions and exhibit high performance in both NIBs and KIBs in terms of long cycle life (up to 8000 cycles) and fast charging capability (up to 2 A g⁻¹). The results demonstrate that developing 3D RAPs is an effective strategy to achieve high‐performance, affordable, and sustainable NIBs and KIBs.

 

A conjugated tetracarboxylate, 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate sodium salt (Na 4 C 10 H 2 O 8 ), was designed and synthesized as an anode material in Na-ion batteries (NIBs). This organic compound shows low redox potentials (∼0.65 V), long cycle life (1000 cycles), and fast charging capability (up to 2 A g −1 ), demonstrating a promising organic anode for stable and sustainable NIBs. 

Na-ion batteries (NIBs) are promising alternatives to Li-ion batteries (LIBs) due to the low cost, abundance, and high sustainability of sodium resources. However, the high performance of inorganic electrode materials in LIBs does not extend to NIBs because of the larger ion size of Na + than Li + and more complicated electrochemistry. Therefore, it is vital to search for high-performance electrode materials for NIBs. Organic electrode materials (OEMs) with the advantages of high structural tunability and abundant structural diversity show great promise in developing high-performance NIBs. To achieve advanced OEMs for NIBs, a fundamental understanding of the structure–performance correlation is desired for rational structure design and performance optimization. In this review, recent advances in developing OEMs for non-aqueous, aqueous, and all-solid-state NIBs are presented. The challenges, advantages, mechanisms, development, and applications of advanced OEMs in NIBs are also discussed. Perspectives for the innovation of structure design principle and future research direction of OEMs in non-aqueous, aqueous, and all-solid-state NIBs are provided. 

Developing fast‐charging, high‐temperature, and sustainable batteries is critical for the large‐scale deployment of energy storage devices in electric vehicles, grid‐scale electrical energy storage, and high temperature regions. Here, a transition metal‐free all‐organic rechargeable potassium battery (RPB) based on abundant and sustainable organic electrode materials (OEMs) and potassium resources for fast‐charging and high‐temperature applications is demonstrated. N‐doped graphene and a 2.8 m potassium hexafluorophosphate (KPF₆) in diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DEGDME) electrolyte are employed to mitigate the dissolution of OEMs, enhance the electrode conductivity, accommodate large volume change, and form stable solid electrolyte interphase in the all‐organic RPB. At room temperature, the RPB delivers a high specific capacity of 188.1 mAh g⁻¹at 50 mA g⁻¹and superior cycle life of 6000 and 50000 cycles at 1 and 5 A g⁻¹, respectively, demonstrating an ultra‐stable and fast‐charging all‐organic battery. The impressive performance at room temperature is extended to high temperatures, where the high‐mass‐loading (6.5 mg cm⁻²) all‐organic RPB exhibits high‐rate capability up to 2 A g⁻¹and a long lifetime of 500 cycles at 70–100 °C, demonstrating a superb fast‐charging and high‐temperature battery. The cell configuration demonstrated in this work shows great promise for practical applications of sustainable batteries at extreme conditions.