Advanced cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries using nanoarchitectonics

Abstract

In recent years, the global climate has further deteriorated because of the excessive consumption of traditional energy sources. The replacement of traditional fossil fuels with limited reserves by alternative energy sources has become one of the main strategies to alleviate the increasingly serious environmental issues. As a sustainable and promising store of renewable energy, lithium-ion batteries have replaced other types of batteries for many small-scale consumer devices. Notwithstanding their worldwide applications, it has become abundantly clear that the design and fabrication of electrode materials is urgently required to adapt to meet the growing global demand for energy and the power densities needed to make electric vehicles fully commercially viable. To dramatically enhance battery performance, further advances in materials chemistry are essential, especially in novel nanomaterials chemistry. The construction of nanostructured cathode materials by reducing particle size can boost electrochemical performance. The present review is intended to provide readers with a better understanding of the unique contribution of various nanoarchitectures to lithium-ion batteries over the last decade. Nanostructured cathode materials with different dimensions (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D), morphologies (hollow, core–shell, etc.), and composites (mainly graphene-based composites) are highlighted, aiming to unravel the opportunities for the development of future-generation lithium-ion batteries. The advantages and challenges of nanomaterials are also addressed in this review. We hope to simulate many more extensive and insightful studies on nanoarchitectonic cathode materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries with desirable performance.