Redox Active Colloids as Discrete Energy Storage Carriers.

Versatile and readily available battery materials compatible with a range of electrode configurations and cell designs are desirable for renewable energy storage. Here we report a promising class of materials based on redox active colloids (RACs) that are inherently modular in their design and overcome challenges faced by small-molecule organic materials for battery applications, such as crossover and chemical/morphological stability. RACs are cross-linked polymer spheres, synthesized with uniform diameters between 80 and 800 nm, and exhibit reversible redox activity as single particles, as monolayer films, and in the form of flowable dispersions.

Polymerization Initiated by Particle Contact: A Quiescent State Trigger for Materials Synthesis.

Dispersions of particles onto which reactive groups are bound give rise to inhomogeneous concentrations that may afford fundamentally different chemical behavior compared to the same molecular species dissolved in homogeneous solution. An example is bimolecular reactivity of complementary-functionalized particles, whereby interparticle contact is expected to promote fast kinetics localized to the interface, while exhibiting essentially no reactivity elsewhere. Such materials may exhibit unique properties analogous to blood clotting and thereby be useful in self-healing applications.