Materials Design and Engineering for Advanced Electrochemical Energy Storage

Dear Colleagues,

Advances in the storage of electrical energy have always been the driving force for the improvement of our society, from communications to transportation and electricity delivery. Electrochemical energy storage is critical to underpinning sustainable consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and industry smart grids. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been dominant in the market due to their desirable energy and power densities, and have been recognized by the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. However, the energy densities of LIBs have to be continually increased to meet the market demand for lighter batteries with longer service lives. On the other hand, significant concerns have been raised regarding the supply chain and sustainability of LIBs, as their key elements, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel, are at risk of shortage in the earth's crust. Therefore, developing high-capacity anode materials such as Li metal and Si anodes and cathode materials with less Co or Ni to enhance the energy density and sustainability of LIBs simultaneously is urgent. Moreover, engineering the microstructures of these high capacity electrode materials to enhance their performance is highly desirable. Developing advanced battery recycling methods to recycle the key elements of spent LIBs is also important to save resources and boost sustainability.

Besides LIBs, the development of other battery systems based on low-cost and abundant materials is also important for specific applications. For example, viable large-scale energy storage devices must be of appropriate capacity, safe to operate, durable, and utilize low-cost materials and device production methods. In recent years, sodium, potassium, and aqueous zinc ion batteries have attracted strong attention as complementary technologies to LIBs and for smart grid applications. However, challenges still remain regarding the electrode materials, electrolytes, electrode–electrolyte interface, and large-scale demonstration.

This Special Issue will focus on new ideas in developing advanced and sustainable battery technology, which includes materials’ microstructure design and surface modification, new electrolytes, electrode–electrolyte interface, and mechanism exploration via advanced characterization and modeling. Both original research and review articles are welcome in this Special Issue. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Li-ion batteries;
• Li metal batteries;
• Na-ion batteries;
• K-ion batteries;
• Multivalent batteries;
• Aqueous batteries;
• Solid-state batteries;
• Battery recycling

Dr. Weizhai Bao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Li-ion batteries
• Li metal batteries
• Na-ion batteries
• K-ion batteries
• multivalent batteries
• aqueous batteries
• solid-state batteries
• battery recycling
• microstructure design
• surface engineering
• electrolyte engineering