Review—Advanced Carbon-Supported Organic Electrode Materials for Lithium (Sodium)-Ion Batteries

Electroactive organic compounds represent one of the most promising electrode materials for the next generation of green and sustainable lithium (sodium) ion batteries (LIBs/SIBs). However, most organic electrode materials are plagued by high solubility in organic electrolytes and poor electrical conductivity, which have severely impeded their practical applications. Among various strategies to improve their electrochemical performance, introducing conductive carbon into organic materials to form composite electrodes offers the possibility to simultaneously solve the two problems. In this paper, we provide an overview of recent development in the design, synthesis, and application of advanced carbon-supported organic electrode materials for LIBs/SIBs. In such systems, organic component mainly contributes to the charge storage, while carbon matrix facilitates the electron transfer and suppresses the dissolution of the active materials. We mainly focus on representative composites with carbon matrix of fibers, nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, and porous structures. We especially highlight the employment of CNTs and graphene as conductive carbon substrates for organic electrode materials due to their high conductivity, huge surface area, and excellent flexibility. The elegant design of organic-carbon composite should promote the practical applications of organic electrode materials for LIBs/SIBs.