The organic radical battery(ORB) is a new class of rechargeable battery, which use stable organic radical polymers as an electrode-active materials in an electrode of batteries. ORB displays a rapid charging capability and good cycleability due to the high reactivity and reversibility of the radical reaction. Additionally, organic radical polymer is appropriate for forming the flexible thin film battery. ORB contains no harmful heavy metals, it charges and discharges by the oxidation and reduction of radical species such as a nitroxide radical, which is different from that of the Li-ion battery depend on deintercalation/intercalation of the lithium ions, ORB thus opens up a new field of ubiquitous devices with environmentally friendly battery. Because of its unique features, the ORB has a wide range of potential applications as a power source including laptop PCs, smart cards, sensors, intelligent papers, radio frequency identification tags and micro-sized devices. Present paper reviews the progress of organic radical battery, including the structures and compositions, charge/discharge reaction mechanisms and characteristics. At the same time, the developments of the high performance organic radical battery are discussed including the multi-stage charge/discharge characteristics of radical polymers increased the discharge capacity of the battery and the electrode material of nano-doped to improve the battery cycle stability. The development trends of high energy-density and environmental benign organic radical battery are also pointed out. Contents
1 Introduction
2 Structural, characteristics and charge/discharge mechanism of ORB
3 Progress in organic radical battery
4 Development of high energy density of ORB
4.1 Nano-doping of electron materials
4.2 Multi-stage charge and discharge properties
4.3 Design of high capacity of ORB
5 Conclusion