Redox Mechanisms and Characterization Methods of Organic Electrode Materials

Using organic materials as the redox-active component for sustainable rechargeable batteries exhibits multiple merits, e.g. abundant resources, design flexibility, and potential cost-effectiveness. Until now, many organic materials with various active sites have been reported for rechargeable batteries. They show differences in potential, cycle stability, and reaction kinetics due to their diversity of redox behaviors during the electrochemical reaction. In this chapter, we first introduce three general redox mechanisms of organic electrode materials: n-type, p-type, and bipolar-type. Then, organic electrode materials are further divided into carbonyls, organosulfides, radicals, and N-containing active materials. Representatives of organic materials are selected to demonstrate their reaction mechanisms in detail. Lastly, advanced characterization techniques can supply insight into the diversity of redox behaviors of organic materials, which is of great significance for utilizing and optimizing their molecular structures to build better organic batteries. Therefore, some typical characterization methods for verifying the redox mechanisms of organic materials are also discussed.