Environmentally benign batteries based on organic radical polymers

Nishide, Hiroyuki; Koshika, Kenichiroh; Oyaizu, Kenichi

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-08-12-03

Pure Appl. Chem., 2009, Vol. 81, No. 11, pp. 1961-1970

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-08-12-03

Published online 2009-10-15

Environmentally benign batteries based on organic radical polymers

Hiroyuki Nishide*, Kenichiroh Koshika and Kenichi Oyaizu

Department of Applied Chemistry, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan

Abstract: A radical polymer is an aliphatic organic polymer bearing densely populated unpaired electrons in the pendant robust radical groups per repeating unit. These radicals’ unpaired electrons are characterized by very fast electron-transfer reactivity, allowing reversible charging as the electrode-active materials for secondary batteries. Organic-based radical batteries have several advantages over conventional batteries, such as increased safety, adaptability to wet fabrication processes, easy disposability, and capability of fabrication from less-limited resources, which are described along the fashion of green chemistry.