Energy-storage technologies, including electrical double-layer capacitors and rechargeable batteries, have attracted significant attention for applications in portable electronic devices, electric vehicles, bulk electricity storage at power stations, and "load leveling" of renewable sources, such as solar energy and wind power. Transforming lithium batteries and electric double-layer capacitors requires a step change in the science underpinning these devices, including the discovery of new materials, new electrochemistry, and an increased understanding of the processes on which the devices depend. The Review will consider some of the current scientific issues underpinning lithium batteries and electric double-layer capacitors.

Disodium terephthalate and its various derivatives are synthesized via simple acid-base chemistry for anode materials in Na ion batteries. They show excellent electrochemical performance, including little capacity fading over 90 cycles, ideal redox potential, and excellent rate performance, making them promising candidates for Na ion batteries.

Sn4 P3 is introduced for the first time as an anode material for Na-ion batteries. Sn4 P3 delivers a high reversible capacity of 718 mA h g(-1), and shows very stable cycle performance with negligible capa-city fading over 100 cycles, which is attributed to the confinement effect of Sn nanocrystallites in the amorphous phosphorus matrix during cycling.

Sheet-type electrodes, prepared from solid-electrolyte precursors by scalable single-step wet-chemical fabrication, exhibit the excellent electrochemical performance for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

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