Interplay of Porosity, Wettability, and Redox Activity as Determining Factors for Lithium-Organic Electrochemical Energy Storage Using Biomolecules.

Although several recent publications describe cathodes for electrochemical energy storage materials made from regrown biomass in aqueous electrolytes, their transfer to lithium-organic batteries is challenging. To gain a deeper understanding, we investigate the influences on charge storage in model systems based on biomass-derived, redox-active compounds and comparable structures. Hybrid materials from these model polymers and porous carbon are compared to determine precisely the causes of exceptional capacity in lithium-organic systems. Besides redox activity, particularly, wettability influences capacity of the composites greatly. Furthermore, in addition to biomass-derived molecules with catechol functionalities, which are described commonly as redox-active species in lithium-bio-organic systems, we further describe guaiacol groups as a promising alternative for the first time and compare the performance of the respective compounds.