Currently, the transition from using the combustion engine to electrified vehicles is a matter of time and drives the demand for compact, high-energy-density rechargeable lithium ion batteries as ...well as for large stationary batteries to buffer solar and wind energy. The future challenges, e.g., the decarbonization of the CO2-intensive transportation sector, will push the need for such batteries even more. The cost of lithium ion batteries has become competitive in the last few years, and lithium ion batteries are expected to dominate the battery market in the next decade. However, despite remarkable progress, there is still a strong need for improvements in the performance of lithium ion batteries. Further improvements are not only expected in the field of electrochemistry but can also be readily achieved by improved manufacturing methods, diagnostic algorithms, lifetime prediction methods, the implementation of artificial intelligence, and digital twins. Therefore, this Special Issue addresses the progress in battery and energy storage development by covering areas that have been less focused on, such as digitalization, advanced cell production, modeling, and prediction aspects in concordance with progress in new materials and pack design solutions.
The ever‐growing market of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles has significantly stimulated research interests on new‐generation rechargeable battery systems with high energy density, ...satisfying safety and low cost. With unique potentials to achieve high energy density and low cost, rechargeable batteries based on metal anodes are capable of storing more energy via an alloying/de‐alloying process, in comparison to traditional graphite anodes via an intercalation/de‐intercalation process. However, the drawbacks of metal anodes such as high initial capacity loss and short cycling life need to be solved before commercialization. Herein, we mainly dedicate the attention on recent progresses in the metallic materials (e.g., Al, Sn, Mg, Zn, Sb and Bi) which have the best likelihood of being applied in commercial batteries and the advanced modification strategies including nanosizing, composite design, and alloy/intermetallic construction for better battery performance. In addition, the investigations of such metal anodes in some new battery systems such as sodium‐ion batteries, aluminum‐ion batteries, zinc‐ion batteries, magnesium‐ion batteries, and dual‐ion batteries are further briefly reviewed.
With high theoretical capacities, moderate operation potential, high abundance and low cost, metallic anode materials are promising alternative candidates for LIBs. This review focuses on the recent progresses in the metallic materials (e.g., Al, Sn, Mg, Zn, Sb and Bi) which have the superior likelihood of being applied in commercial LIBs and also in some new battery systems including sodium‐ion batteries, aluminum‐ion batteries, zinc‐ion batteries, magnesium‐ion batteries, and dual‐ion batteries.
From basic research to industry process, battery energy storage systems have played a great role in the informatization, mobility, and intellectualization of modern human society. Some potential ...systems such as Li, Na, K, Mg, Zn, and Al secondary batteries have attracted much attention to maintain social progress and sustainable development. As one of the components in batteries, electrolytes play an important role in the upgrade and breakthrough of battery technology. Since room‐temperature ionic liquids (ILs) feature high conductivity, nonflammability, nonvolatility, high thermal stability, and wide electrochemical window, they have been widely applied in various battery systems and show great potential in improving battery stability, kinetics performance, energy density, service life, and safety. Thus, it is a right time to summarize these progresses. In this review, the composition and classification of various ILs and their recent applications as electrolytes in diverse metal‐ion batteries (Li, Na, K, Mg, Zn, Al) are outlined to enhance the battery performances.
This manuscript reviews the classification of ionic liquids, and their potential application as electrolytes in metal‐ion batteries (Li, Na, K, Mg, Zn, Al). Their merits of nonflammable property, thermal stability, and high safety suggest that they could be a promising solution to realize high safety and high energy density for next generational battery systems.
The topic of sustainable and eco‐friendly energy storage technologies is an issue of global significance. To date, this heavy burden is solely addressed by lithium‐ion battery technology. However, ...the ongoing depletion of limited global lithium resources has restricted their future availability for Li‐ion battery technology, and hence, a significant price increase is expected. This grim situation is the driving force for the development of the “beyond Li‐ion battery” strategy involving alternatives that have several advantages over conventional Li‐ion batteries in terms of cost, durability, safety, and sustainability. Potassium, the closest neighboring alkali element after sodium, offers some unique advantages over lithium and sodium as a charge carrier in rechargeable batteries. Potassium intercalation chemistry in potassium‐ion batteries (KIBs) is successfully demonstrated to be compatible with Li‐ion batteries and sodium‐ion batteries. In addition to KIBs, potassium–sulfur and potassium–oxygen batteries have emerged as new energy‐storage systems due to their low costs and high specific energy densities. This review covers the key technological developments and scientific challenges for a broad range of rechargeable potassium batteries, while also providing valuable insight into the scientific and practical issues concerning the development of potassium‐based rechargeable batteries.
Batteries that use potassium ions, such as potassium‐ion, potassium–sulfur, and potassium–oxygen batteries, are emerging technologies that can compete with lithium‐ion batteries in large‐scale energy‐storage applications. This review covers the key technological developments and scientific challenges for a broad range of potassium‐based batteries, while also providing valuable insight into the scientific and practical issues concerning the development of rechargeable potassium batteries.
Electrochemical energy storage at a large scale poses one of the main technological challenges of this century. The scientific community in academia and industry worldwide intensively is exploring ...various alternative rechargeable battery concepts beside state‐of‐the‐art lithium ion batteries (LIBs), for example, all‐solid‐state batteries, lithium/sulfur batteries, magnesium/sulfur batteries or dual‐ion batteries that could outperform LIBs in different aspects. Often, these concepts also promise very high theoretical energies per mass or volume. However, as theoretical values exclude numerous relevant parameters, they do not translate directly into practically achievable energy values: The gaps between practical capacities and voltages compared to the theoretical values differ for each system. In order to provide high transparency and to illustrate which cell components are most important in the limitation of the practical energy values, in this study, the specific energies and energy densities are calculated in six subsequent steps—from the theoretical energy values of the active materials alone to the practical energy values in an 18650 cylindrical cell. By providing a tool to calculate the energy values of six different battery technologies with different assumptions made evident, this study aims for more transparency and reliability in the comparison of different cell chemistries.
The practical energy content of different alternative cell chemistries (all‐solid‐state batteries, different types of lithium/sulfur batteries, magnesium/sulfur batteries, dual‐ion batteries) in comparison to lithium ion batteries is estimated in six calculation steps, from the theoretical energy content at material level to the practical energy at cell level. Special emphasis is placed on the necessary amount of electrolyte.
Covalent–organic frameworks (COFs), featuring structural diversity, framework tunability and functional versatility, have emerged as promising organic electrode materials for rechargeable batteries ...and garnered tremendous attention in recent years. The adjustable pore configuration, coupled with the functionalization of frameworks through pre‐ and post‐synthesis strategies, enables a precise customization of COFs, which provides a novel perspective to deepen the understanding of the fundamental problems of organic electrode materials. In this review, a summary of the recent research into COFs electrode materials for rechargeable batteries including lithium‐ion batteries, sodium‐ion batteries, potassium‐ion batteries, and aqueous zinc batteries is provided. In addition, this review will also cover the working principles, advantages and challenges, strategies to improve electrochemical performance, and applications of COFs in rechargeable batteries.
Covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) have been demonstrated to be promising electrode materials in rechargeable batteries due to their structural versatility and functional tunability. Aiming to attract more research interest in this field, the working mechanisms, strategies for enhancing the electrochemical performance, and challenges of COFs electrode materials for rechargeable batteries (lithium‐ion batteries, sodium‐ion batteries, potassium‐ion batteries, and aqueous zinc batteries) are presented.
In this paper, anhydrous porous CuF.sub.2 with a micro-nano-hierarchical structure has been successfully fabricated via a precipitation method and a following solid-state reaction process. Scanning ...electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and N.sub.2 adsorption-desorption isotherms results confirm that the prepared porous CuF.sub.2 bulks are composed of loosely packed nanoparticles with a size range mainly between 30 and 50 nm, forming a micro-nano-hierarchical structure and possessing a large specific Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 24.93 m.sup.2 g.sup.-1. The porous CuF.sub.2 exhibits an outstanding initial discharge capability of 523 mAh g.sup.-1 at 0.1C and a superior rate capacity of 403 mAh g.sup.-1 at 5C with a cutoff voltage of 1.5 V versus Li/Li.sup.+. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic intermittent titration technique results verify porous structure can decrease the charge transfer resistance and boost the Li.sup.+ diffusion coefficient in CuF.sub.2. The method proposed in this work could be potentially used to synthesize other metal fluorides for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
Rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMBs) are promising candidates to replace currently commercialized lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) in large‐scale energy storage applications owing to their merits of ...abundant resources, low cost, high theoretical volumetric capacity, etc. However, the development of RMBs is still facing great challenges including the incompatibility of the electrolyte and the lack of suitable cathode materials with high reversible capacity and fast kinetics of Mg2+. While tremendous efforts have been made to explore compatible electrolytes and appropriate electrode materials, the rational design of unconventional Mg‐based battery systems is another effective strategy for achieving high electrochemical performance. This review specifically discusses the recent research progress of various Mg‐based battery systems. First, the optimization of electrolyte and electrode materials for conventional RMBs is briefly discussed. Furthermore, various Mg‐based battery systems, including Mg‐chalcogen (S, Se, Te) batteries, Mg‐halogen (Br2, I2) batteries, hybrid‐ion batteries, and Mg‐based dual‐ion batteries are systematically summarized. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of different Mg‐based battery systems, which can inspire latecomers to explore new strategies for the development of high‐performance and practically available RMBs.
This review specifically presents current progress on recently developed rechargeable magnesium batteries, including Mg‐chalcogen batteries, Mg‐halogen batteries, hybrid ion batteries, and dual‐ion batteries. Additionally, challenges and potential solutions for these battery systems are proposed. This review aims to show new strategies for the development of high‐performance and practically available magnesium batteries.
At present, it is still a challenge to prepare multifunctional composite nanomaterials with simple composition and favorable structure. Here, multifunctional Fesub.3Osub.4@nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C) ...nanocomposites with hollow porous core-shell structure and significant electrochemical, adsorption and sensing performances were successfully synthesized through the hydrothermal method, polymer coating, then thermal annealing process in nitrogen (Nsub.2) and lastly etching in hydrochloric acid (HCl). The morphologies and properties of the as-obtained Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C nanocomposites were markedly affected by the etching time of HCl. When the Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C nanocomposites after etching for 30 min (Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C-3) were applied as the anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the invertible capacity could reach 1772 mA h gsup.−1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 0.2 A gsup.−1, which is much better than that of Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C nanocomposites etched, respectively, for 15 min and 45 min (948 mA h gsup.−1 and 1127 mA h gsup.−1). Additionally, the hollow porous Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C-3 nanocomposites also exhibited superior rate capacity (950 mA h gsup.−1 at 0.6 A gsup.−1). The excellent electrochemical properties of Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C nanocomposites are attributed to their distinctive hollow porous core-shell structure and appropriate N-doped carbon coating, which could provide high-efficiency transmission channels for ions/electrons, improve the structural stability and accommodate the volume variation in the repeated Li insertion/extraction procedure. In addition, the Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C nanocomposites etched by HCl for different lengths of time, especially Fesub.3Osub.4@N-C-3 nanocomposites, also show good performance as adsorbents for the removal of the organic dye (methyl orange, MO) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for the determination of a pesticide (thiram). This work provides reference for the design and preparation of multifunctional materials with peculiar pore structure and uncomplicated composition.
In this study, LiNisub.0.8Cosub.0.15Alsub.0.05Osub.2@x%Alsub.2Osub.3-coated cathode materials were regeneratively compounded by the solid-phase sintering method, and their structural characterization ...and electrochemical performance were systematically analyzed. The regenerated ternary cathode material precursor synthesized by the co-precipitation method was roasted with lithium carbonate at a molar ratio of 1:1.1, and then completely mixed with different contents of aluminum hydroxide. The combined materials were then sintered at 800 °C for 15 h to obtain the regenerated coated cathode material, LiNisub.0.8Cosub.0.15Alsub.0.05Osub.2@x%Alsub.2Osub.3. The thermogravimetry analysis, phase composition, morphological characteristics, and other tests show that when the added content of aluminum hydroxide is 3%, the regenerated cathode material, LiNisub.0.8Cosub.0.15Alsub.0.05Osub.2@1.5%Alsub.2Osub.3, exhibits the highest-order layered structure with Alsub.2Osub.3 coating. This material can better inhibit the production of Nisup.2+, and improve material structure and electrochemical properties. The first charge–discharge efficiency of the battery assembled with this regenerated cathode material is 97.4%, a 50-cycle capacity retention is 93.4%, and a 100-cycle capacity retention is 87.6%. The first charge–discharge efficiency is far better than that of the uncoated regenerated battery.
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