Recent Advances in Conversion-Type Electrode Materials for Post Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and energy storage markets, the rising demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, as opposed to the limited reserves of lithium resources, poses a great challenge to the widespread penetration of this advanced battery technology. Some monovalent metals, such as sodium and potassium, and multivalent metals, such as magnesium, zinc, and aluminum, which are nontoxic and relatively abundant (compared to lithium), are considered as alternative guest ions to lithium ion, thus generating various new battery systems. However, the major obstacle to their large-scale applications has been a lack of suitable robust hosts to accommodate alkalis (Na+, K+) with large radius or multivalent ions (Mg2+, Zn2+, Al3+) with high electrostatic repulsions. Conversion-type materials provide a unique route to tackle this problem because of their special reaction mechanism, which is different from the traditional intercalation reaction, and flexibility for tuning operating voltage. In this Review, the superiority of conversion electrodes for post lithium-ion batteries is discussed in detail, and the recent progress of the newly developed ions batteries based on the conversion mechanism is comprehensively summarized. Finally, the remaining challenges and the perspectives on research directions of conversion electrodes are proposed to provide guidance for future materials engineering and battery design.

Toward wide‐temperature electrolyte for lithium–ion batteries

“…With the further increase of energy density and the gradual decline of production costs, LIBs have almost monopolized the electric vehicle power battery market, and have extended their tentacles to gird‐scale energy storage field. As the most advanced battery technology at present, LIBs possess plenty of advantages, such as high energy density, high output voltage, long cycle life, low self‐discharge, no memory effect, and so forth, enabling it to maintain consistently strong competitiveness 2 . Despite the rapid drop in cost over the past decade, LIB still suffers from safety risks and narrow operational temperature range 3 …”

Bottom-Up Design of Configurable Oligomer-Derived Conducting Metallopolymers for High-Power Electrochemical Energy Storage

“…These concerns hinder the continued development of LiBs for large-scale energy storage applications , and have prompted the development of postlithium energy storage systems (PLiES) using cations such as Na + , K + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Al 3+ to store charge, which are much more abundant than Li. , However, replacing Li ions with cations of larger size and/or charge poses several challenges associated with differences in ion radii and strength of cation–solvent interactions and calls for the deep revision and re-exploration of the cathode and electrolyte chemistries . Inorganic transition metal oxides are widely developed and studied as cathode candidates for PLiES but, upon charging, tend to display irreversible phase transformations resulting in a decrease in both voltage and capacity during charge/discharge as well as generally poor power density .…”

Estudio de análogos de azul de Prusia como materiales para baterías de intercalación de ion potasio: efecto del metal externo sobre el comportamiento electroquímico

“…Las baterías secundarias además pueden ser clasificadas dependiendo de su mecanismo de almacenamiento de energía, como baterías de intercalación (Figura 5a) [14][15], conversión (Figura 5b) [16][17] o mecanismo mixto (Figura 5c) [18][19]. El fenómeno de intercalación corresponde a la inserción de iones desde el electrolito en la estructura del ánodo o cátodo, al efectuarse las reacciones electroquímicas, sin producir separación de fases, y sin la formación de estructuras cristalinas nuevas.…”

“…Mientras que, algunos materiales pueden presentar un comportamiento mixto de intercalación y conversión [17]. Figura 5.…”

“…Los materiales de intercalación para cátodos han sido preferidos en comparación con los de conversión, y son utilizados actualmente en las baterías de ion alcalino comerciales [5,17].…”