The decarbonization of the transport sector will accelerate the demand for electrochemical energy storage devices. While past and current research efforts focused on improving the performance of electrochemical cells (energy density, power density, and stability), little attention has been paid to the recycling of these devices after their end of life. Thus, to limit the accumulation of electric waste and the depletion of important materials, there is an urgency to develop a circular economy for materials and integrate recyclability in the device architectures.<br/>In my talk, I will introduce a new concept for developing recyclable polymer batteries.[1] We designed solution processible redox-active conjugated polymers that function as binder- and additive-free electrodes with high stability in aqueous electrolytes. The fabricated electrochemical cell achieved &gt;98% retention of the capacity after 500 charging/discharging cycles with cell voltages &gt; 1.2 V in aqueous electrolytes. We demonstrate that these materials can easily be recycled by solvent extraction methods, where we achieve &gt;85% capacity retention after recycling the electrochemical cell (76 % retention after recycling the device twice). Our work provides new ideas for employing material chemistry to integrate recyclability in electrochemical energy storage devices for a more sustainable future of energy storage devices.

Redox-active polymers designed for the circular economy of energy storage devices

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

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