Nanospace-Confinement Synthesis: Designing High-Energy Anode Materials toward Ultrastable Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Exploiting high-capacity and durable electrode materials is pivotal to developing lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and their applications. Multiscaled nanomaterials have been demonstrated to efficiently couple the advantages of each component on different scales in energy storage fields. However, the precise control of the microstructure remains a great challenge for maximizing their contributions. Nanospace-confined synthesis provides a proactive strategy to build novel multiscaled nanomaterials with controllable internal void space for circumventing the intrinsic volume effects in the charge/discharge process. Herein, the rational design and synthesis of multiscaled high-capacity anode materials are mainly summarized according to their electrochemical mechanisms by choosing 1D channel, 2D interlayer, and 3D space as representative confinement reaction environments. The structure-performance relationships are clarified with the assistance of quantitative calculations, molecular simulations, and so forth. Finally, future potentials and challenges of such a synthesis tactic in designing high-performance electrode materials for next-generation secondary batteries are outlooked.

Keywords: confined synthesis; lithium-ion batteries; long cycle life; multiscaled nanomaterials; structural control.