Addressing the Practical Challenges of Green Organic Electrodes in Secondary Batteries: Toward Higher Energy, Longer Lifespan, and Improved Sustainability

The rapid expansion of renewable energy, electric mobility, and distributed energy storage has intensified the need for low-cost, safe, and environmentally benign electrochemical systems. Green organic electrode materials, with renewable feedstock potential, structural tunability, mild synthesis, and possible recyclability or degradability, offer a promising route to lowering the life-cycle impact of batteries. Nevertheless, the dissolution and migration of small organic molecules or oligomers in electrolytes lead to continuous loss of active materials. These issues, coupled with limited intrinsic electronic conductivity, insufficient structural robustness, and complex interfacial side reactions, constrain their long-term cycling stability. Recent advances highlight that multiscale modification strategies, including molecular design, composite and interfacial engineering, electrolyte regulation, and binder engineering, are essential for mitigating these degradation pathways and improving performance. Importantly, the development of green organic electrodes must also account for life-cycle considerations such as cost, toxicity, energy consumption, and recyclability to achieve a balance between performance and environmental impact. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of failure mechanisms in green organic electrodes, compares the applicability and trade-offs of the corresponding mitigation strategies, and further introduces a sustainability-oriented evaluation perspective for the design of next-generation sustainable energy-storage materials.