Within a few decades, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have revolutionized technologies facilitating the rapid development of new portable devices and electric vehicles. However, this rapid technology growth has exceeded the ability to address issues associated with mining lithium, cobalt, and other mineral ore resources. To reduce this reliance on strategic elements, organic-based electroactive materials have received considerable attention as alternative electrode materials for LIBs. Here, a metal-free all-polypeptide-based battery is demonstrated, in which viologens and nitroxide radicals are incorporated as redox-active groups along polypeptide backbones to function as anode and cathode materials, respectively. The capacity of each polypeptide was determined with a lithium metal half-cell battery, resulting in an initial capacity of 74.2 mAhg-1 and 16.5 mAhg-1 for the anode and cathode, respectively. Finally, we constructed a metal-free, fully polypeptide-based battery. The resulting battery had an initial capacity of 37.8 mAhg-1 (85% of the theoretical capacity) and a maximum cell voltage of 1.6 V. Additionally, we observed that these redox-active polypeptides were stable during battery operation and could be subsequently degraded on-demand in acidic conditions to generate amino acids, other building blocks, and degradation products. This polypeptide-based battery is a first step in addressing the need for alternative chemistries for sustainable batteries.

Polypeptide organic radical batteries

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.