Polymer Electrode Materials for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries

Polymer electrode materials exploit organic frameworks in place of traditional inorganic compounds to store and release alkali ions, offering lightweight, flexible and potentially low‐cost alternatives for both lithium‐ and sodium‐ion batteries. Key classes include carbonyl‐based polymers (such as polyimides and perylene diimides), conductive conjugated polymers (for example, thiophene or EDOT derivatives) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) incorporating redox‐active units. These materials often combine multiple redox centres per repeating unit to achieve high theoretical capacities, while their structural tunability supports optimisation of voltage profiles, ion diffusion pathways and mechanical robustness. Challenges remain in achieving adequate electronic conductivity, suppressing solubility in liquid electrolytes and ensuring long‐term cycle stability. Strategies to overcome these include in situ polymerisation onto conductive substrates (carbon nanotubes, graphene), design of flexible polymer backbones to accommodate volumetric changes, and exploitation of specific ion–polymer interactions to improve reaction kinetics. Advances in polymer electrode design carry global significance for sustainable energy storage, offering routes towards safer, more recyclable battery chemistries suitable for electric vehicles, portable electronics and grid‐scale applications.

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Polymer Electrode Materials for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in polymer electrode materials for lithium and sodium ion batteries across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Redox-active: Capable of reversible oxidation and reduction reactions to store and release charge.

Covalent Organic Framework (COF): Crystalline porous polymer network built from covalently linked organic building blocks, often with tunable pores and redox sites.

Polyimide: A class of high-performance polymers containing imide linkages (–CO–N–CO–) that can serve as multi-electron redox centres.

Superlithiation: An electrochemical activation process involving insertion of more than one equivalent of lithium per redox unit to enhance capacity.

Specific Capacity: The amount of electric charge stored per unit mass of electrode material, typically expressed in milliampere-hours per gram (mAh g⁻¹).

References

1. Investigation of ion-electrode interactions of linear polyimides and alkali metal ions for next generation alternative-ion batteries. Chemical Science (2022).
2. Polymerization increasing the capacitive charge storage for better rate performance: A case study of electrodes in aqueous sodium‐ion capacitors. Battery Energy (2022).
3. Superior Anodic Lithium Storage in Core–Shell Heterostructures Composed of Carbon Nanotubes and Schiff‐Base Covalent Organic Frameworks. Energy & Environmental Materials (2024).