Nanostructured Conjugated Polymers: Toward High-Performance Organic Electrodes for Rechargeable Batteries

TLDR

Nanostructured conjugated polymers are electrochemically active organic materials that combine high electronic conductivity, electrochemical stability, and flexibility, and are increasingly studied as green, renewable resources for high‑performance energy storage and conversion devices. This review surveys the current state of nanostructured conjugated polymers as electrode materials for rechargeable batteries, outlining their one‑, two‑, and three‑dimensional structures, fundamentals, challenges, and future improvement directions. It focuses on the design and synthesis of 1D, 2D, and 3D composite forms of these polymers and their integration into battery electrodes. The authors conclude that, with continued exploration of electrochemical mechanisms and advanced technologies, nanostructured conjugated polymer‑based electrodes hold great promise for practical applications.

Abstract

Nanostructured conjugated polymers are a type of electrochemically active organic material with a high electronic conductivity, good electrochemical stability, and superior flexibility. Owing to these advantages, increasing research interest has been recently focused on the utilization of nanostructured conjugated polymers as green and renewable resources for potential high-performance energy storage and conversion devices. This Review discusses the current situation and the state-of-the-art developments on nanostructured conjugated polymers including their one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) structures as well as their three-dimensional (3D) composite forms as electrode materials for rechargeable batteries. In particular, the fundamentals, challenges, and possible directions to improve the performance of the current systems are included in this Review. With sufficient depth and advanced technologies devoted to exploration of the electrochemistry and mechanism, nanostructured conjugated polymer-based electrodes will be of great scientific interest for future practical applications.