Synthesis and characterisation of organic electrodes for batteries.

人类活动是导致地球气候变暖的主要因素，其中一个重要因素是燃烧化石燃料以生产能源。化石燃料的持续燃烧将加剧当前的问题，加深现有的气候危机。随着几个国家的快速增长，未来全球能源消费将继续增长。为了抵消气候变化和满足预测的能源需求，可再生能源需要将自己定位在能源生产的前沿。为了促进能源生产的这一演变，需要缓解与可再生能源相关的弱点；可再生能源是动态的，因此高峰产量并不总是与高峰需求相关。通过实施以钠离子电池形式的大规模电网存储，可以存储风能等可再生能源产生的能量，以满足高峰需求。这是钠离子电池提供的潜在应用的一个独特例子。由于缺乏合适的负极材料，钠离子电池尚未商业化；然而，钠比目前的商业电池系统具有优势，锂、钠更便宜、更丰富，并在电池系统中提供安全优势。要获得钠离子电池系统的好处，需要找到合适的负极材料。钠离子电池的负极材料中有一类目前相对未被开发，那就是有机阳极。有机阳极有可能提供可持续的、可再生的电池化学，然而，目前对充电和放电过程的了解还很少。为了促进现有有机阳极的优化，并帮助发现潜在的新有机阳极材料，需要更全面地了解循环过程中发生的潜在机制和过程。通过对当前的负极材料采用原位和操作技术，可以更好地理解循环过程中发生的过程。原位X射线衍射仪可以提供对相形成和每个相形成的相对数量的洞察。原位拉曼光谱提供了对变化的局部环境和键形成的洞察。原位透射电子显微镜可以了解循环过程中的相分离以及哪些粒子正在经历相变。此外，原位共振非弹性X射线散射(RIXS)可以表征电池中不断变化的氧化还原行为，并可以发现关于材料电子结构的信息。存在更多的操作手和现场表征技术，可以用来发现关于自行车行为的更多信息。从这些方法获得的数据可以用来解释电化学结果，提供优化材料性能的机会，以及对潜在的有机电池材料的性能进行理论预测。

Anthropogenic activity is the primary contributor to the warming of the Earth's climate a substantial contributing factor is the burning of fossil fuels for energy production. The continued burning of fossil fuels will exacerbate the current problem and deepen the existing climate crisis. Global energy consumption is set to continue to increase in the future with several nations undergoing rapid growth. To offset climate change and meet forecasted energy demands renewable energy needs to position itself at the forefront of energy production. To facilitate this evolution in energy production, the weaknesses associated with renewables need to be mitigated; renewable energy sources are dynamic, and therefore peak production does not always correlate with peak demand. Via implementation of large-scale grid storage in the form of sodium-ion batteries, energy produced from renewable sources such as wind can be stored to meet peak demand. This is a singular example of the potential applications sodium-ion batteries offer. Sodium-ion batteries are not yet commercialised due to a lack of suitable anode material; however, sodium holds advantages over the current commercial battery system, lithium, sodium is cheaper, more abundant, and offers safety advantages in a battery system. To access the benefits of a sodium-ion battery system, a suitable anode material needs to be discovered. One category of anode materials for sodium-ion batteries that is currently relatively unexplored is organic anodes. Organic anodes potentially offer sustainable, renewable battery chemistry, however, understanding the processes that occur during charge and discharge are currently poorly understood. To facilitate the optimisation of existing organic anodes and aid the discovery of potential new organic anode materials a more comprehensive knowledge of the underlying mechanisms and processes that occur during cycling is required. By employing in-situ and operando techniques to current anode materials it is possible to achieve an enriched understanding of the processes occurring during cycling. In-Situ XRD can offer insight into phase formation and the relative amounts of each phase formed. In-situ Raman spectroscopy offers insight into changing local environments and bond formation. In-situ TEM can give an understanding of the phase separation during cycling and what particles are undergoing a phase change. Furthermore, in-situ resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) can characterise the changing redox behaviour in a cell and can discover information the about electronic structure of a material. More operando and in-situ characterisation techniques exist and can be employed to discover further information on cycling behaviour. Data obtained from these methods can then be utilised to explain electrochemical results, offering the opportunity to optimise the performance of a material, as well as make theoretical predictions on the performance of potential organic battery materials.