The ever-growing demands of energy consumption in areas such as portable electronics, automobiles, and stationary grid storage, pose great challenges to energy storage devices in terms of energy and power output. However, the lithium-ion battery that currently leads the market in the field of energy storage suffers from limited intrinsic energy density to meet the requirements of key market segments, including personal, transportation, and grid support. Therefore, there is still an urgent need for next-generation batteries with higher energy density.
Generally, batteries are mainly composed of electrodes, separators, and electrolytes. As the ion transport pathway, the electrolyte is the central component that profoundly affects battery performance in many aspects such as rechargeability, operating voltage, lifespan, power density, and safety. Therefore, electrolyte materials play a critical role in developing high-energy-density batteries. With respect to their development, a large variety of electrolytes—e.g. aqueous, organic, ionic liquid, redox-type, and solid or semi-solid—have been explored, with significant progress made during the past several decades. Nevertheless, there remain great challenges with the increasing interest in high-energy-density, durable, flexible, and rechargeable batteries enabled by rational design of electrolytes. In recent years, achievements based on electrolytes including exploration of fundamental chemistries, development of novel materials, design of electrode–electrolyte interfaces, as well as electrolyte additives, have demonstrated great promise for the development of high-energy-density batteries.
This Research Topic seeks to highlight recent advances and novel research trends, welcoming original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that investigate electrolyte materials in achieving high-performance electrolytes for high-energy-density batteries and their practical applications. This article collection will cover fundamental chemical aspects of synthesis, characterization, and the performance and assembly of electrolyte materials for high-energy-density batteries such as primary batteries, secondary ion batteries, metal–sulfur batteries (e.g. lithium–sulfur batteries, sodium–sulfur batteries, magnesium–sulfur batteries, aluminum–sulfur batteries), metal–air batteries (e.g. lithium–air batteries, zinc–air batteries, aluminum–air batteries, magnesium–air batteries), and other chemical batteries.
Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
1) synthesis and characterization of novel electrolyte materials with high Li+, Zn2+, Mg2+, H+, OH–-ion conductivities
2) discovery of high-performance semi-solid/solid-state electrolyte materials with high flexibility and high ionic conductivity
3) investigation of mechanisms of ionic conduction, electrolyte degradation, and interaction between electrolytes and electrode materials
3) development of advanced in-situ or online characterization techniques for electrolyte material structure optimization and performance failure
4) design of novel and efficient processing and integration techniques for electrolyte assembly in high-energy-density batteries
The ever-growing demands of energy consumption in areas such as portable electronics, automobiles, and stationary grid storage, pose great challenges to energy storage devices in terms of energy and power output. However, the lithium-ion battery that currently leads the market in the field of energy storage suffers from limited intrinsic energy density to meet the requirements of key market segments, including personal, transportation, and grid support. Therefore, there is still an urgent need for next-generation batteries with higher energy density.
Generally, batteries are mainly composed of electrodes, separators, and electrolytes. As the ion transport pathway, the electrolyte is the central component that profoundly affects battery performance in many aspects such as rechargeability, operating voltage, lifespan, power density, and safety. Therefore, electrolyte materials play a critical role in developing high-energy-density batteries. With respect to their development, a large variety of electrolytes—e.g. aqueous, organic, ionic liquid, redox-type, and solid or semi-solid—have been explored, with significant progress made during the past several decades. Nevertheless, there remain great challenges with the increasing interest in high-energy-density, durable, flexible, and rechargeable batteries enabled by rational design of electrolytes. In recent years, achievements based on electrolytes including exploration of fundamental chemistries, development of novel materials, design of electrode–electrolyte interfaces, as well as electrolyte additives, have demonstrated great promise for the development of high-energy-density batteries.
This Research Topic seeks to highlight recent advances and novel research trends, welcoming original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that investigate electrolyte materials in achieving high-performance electrolytes for high-energy-density batteries and their practical applications. This article collection will cover fundamental chemical aspects of synthesis, characterization, and the performance and assembly of electrolyte materials for high-energy-density batteries such as primary batteries, secondary ion batteries, metal–sulfur batteries (e.g. lithium–sulfur batteries, sodium–sulfur batteries, magnesium–sulfur batteries, aluminum–sulfur batteries), metal–air batteries (e.g. lithium–air batteries, zinc–air batteries, aluminum–air batteries, magnesium–air batteries), and other chemical batteries.
Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
1) synthesis and characterization of novel electrolyte materials with high Li+, Zn2+, Mg2+, H+, OH–-ion conductivities
2) discovery of high-performance semi-solid/solid-state electrolyte materials with high flexibility and high ionic conductivity
3) investigation of mechanisms of ionic conduction, electrolyte degradation, and interaction between electrolytes and electrode materials
3) development of advanced in-situ or online characterization techniques for electrolyte material structure optimization and performance failure
4) design of novel and efficient processing and integration techniques for electrolyte assembly in high-energy-density batteries