Abstract

Driven by the great need for improved energy storage solutions, several research groups have investigated a variety of materials with the goal of developing the next generation of electrochemical energy storage device. In this review, we focus on candidate materials for the development of high energy density anodes. We critically summarize the most recent advances in the use of silicon, tin, and few metal oxides as electrode materials in lithium ion batteries. Because of its abundance and its high specific capacity, silicon is the most attractive candidate material, despite presenting great challenges with respect to its structural stability and transport properties. After several year of intense investigation, which resulted in a huge range of nanostructures being tested and characterized, we can now identify few important contributions that confirm that it is possible to successfully integrate silicon in anode that achieves satisfactory charge/discharge cycle lifetime. Additional work is needed to demonstrate device stability in active layers with density and weight loading comparable to those of real-life devices. In addition, further investigations need to focus on the processing science of siliconcontaining nanostructured materials, with the goal of developing a route that is competitive with the production volume of current anode materials.

Keywords: Anode, high energy density, lithium ion batteries, metal oxides, silicon, tin.