Design of organic solid-state materials for battery applications.

Humanity is facing significant global challenges, such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and declining biodiversity, with negative effects on our lives, economy, and society. The growing energy demand is being addressed through a strategic shift toward climate-friendly technologies, especially in developing sustainable and clean battery manufacturing processes. Exploring organic electrode materials is a promising avenue in this initiative. These materials are considered sustainable because they consist of abundant and lightweight elements, making them more cost-effective than traditional inorganic materials. Inorganic materials, like cobalt, are energy-intensive to process and are often classified as critical raw materials. On the other hand, organics can be thermally recycled, using biomass-derived precursors. Combining organic electrode materials with solid-state electrolytes not only solves the problem of organics dissolving but also allows for a wider range of solid electrolyte materials, extending beyond the limitations of high-voltage cathode materials. The project has two main goals: 1) computationally designing and identifying promising organic materials for post Li-ion batteries, and 2) updating the existing database for organic materials used in batteries.