With the increasing global focus on environmental issues, controlling carbon dioxide emissions has become an important global agenda. In this context, the development of new energy vehicles, such as electric vehicles, is flourishing. However, as a crucial power source for electric vehicles, the safety performance of lithium-ion batteries under mechanical abuse has drawn widespread attention. Evaluating the safety performance of lithium-ion batteries requires in-depth research. This paper provides a review of recent experimental and numerical simulation studies on the mechanical abuse of lithium-ion batteries. It showcases the main methods and conclusions of experimental research, compares different response forms under quasi-static and dynamic loading, discusses the causes of strain-rate dependence in lithium-ion batteries, and briefly describes the impact of the state of charge (SOC) on safety performance under mechanical abuse, as well as the influence of mechanical abuse on battery capacity and impedance characteristics. Furthermore, this paper summarizes the methods of numerical simulation research, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of detailed modeling and homogenized modeling methods, summarizes the strain-based internal short circuit failure criteria, and reviews numerical predictive models based on multiphysics coupling. Finally, it presents the latest progress in studying the safety performance of battery packs through numerical simulations.

The increasing demand in energy consumption and the use of clean energy from sustainable energy sources have driven the research in the development of advanced materials for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. In this work, we have developed a simple technique to synthesize a porous Sb structure through a galvanic replacement reaction between Sb ³⁺ and Zn particles. The porous Sb structure consists of a three-dimensional-hierarchical structure with tree-like nanoscale Sb dendrites. The Sb in the nanodendrites is crystal of a rhombohedral structure. We construct Li-/Na-ion half cells and Li-/Na-ion full cells with the Sb nanodendrites as the active material in the working electrode and anode, respectively, and introduce an additive of vinylene carbonate for the Li-ion half/full cells and an additive of fluoroethylene carbonate for the Na-ion half/full cells. All the Li-/Na-ion half cells and Li-/Na-ion full cells exhibit excellent electrochemical performance and cycling stability. Such excellent performance can be attributed to the synergistic interaction between the three-dimensional-dendritic structure and electrolyte, which likely ensures fast transport of ions and electrons and the formation of a stable solid-state interphase.

We synthesize Sb/Sb₂O₃ nanoparticles by the oxidation of Sb nanoparticles at 100, 200, and 300 °C. The half sodium-ion batteries with Sb/Sb₂O₃-200 exhibit the optimal performance with a charge capacity of 540 mAh g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g⁻¹, maintaining up to six times more capacity than pure Sb, and superior rate performance with 95.7% retention after cycling at varied current densities. One reason for this is that Sb/Sb₂O₃-200 is at exactly the optimum ratio of Sb₂O₃:Sb and the particle size of Sb/Sb₂O₃ to ensure both high capacity for Na⁺ and small stress during sodiation/desodiation, which is confirmed by the diffusion–stress coupled results. It indicates that increasing the ratio of Sb₂O₃:Sb causes a decrease of Mises equivalent stress, radial stress, and tangential stress in the range of 1:1–3.5:1, and an increase in the range of 3.5:1–4:1. These stresses decrease with a particle radius in the range of 30–50 nm and increase with a particle radius in the range of 50–70 nm. Additionally, another reason is related to the formation of cycling-induced coral-like Sb, which can promote Na⁺ diffusion, relieve cycling-induced volume changes, and provide exceptional Na⁺ storage.

There is a great need to develop sustainable and clean energy storage devices and systems of high-energy and high-capacity densities. In this work, we synthesize antimony (Sb) nanocrystal-anchored hollow carbon microspheres (Sb@HCMs) via the calcination of cultivated yeast cells and the reduction of SbCl ₃ in an ethylene glycol solution on the surface of hollow carbon microspheres. The Sb@HCMs possess hollow and porous structure, and the Sb is present in the form of nanocrystals. Using the Sb@HCMs as the active-electrode material, we assemble lithium (Li)-ion half cells and full cells and investigate their electrochemical performance. The Li-ion half cells possess a charge capacity of 605 mA h g ⁻¹ after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g ⁻¹ and a charge capacity of 469.9 mA h g ⁻¹ at a current density up to 1600 mA g ⁻¹ , which is much higher than the theoretical capacity of 372 mA h g ⁻¹ for commercial graphite electrode. The Li-ion full cells with Sb@HCMs//LiCoO ₂ deliver a charge capacity of 300 mA h g ⁻¹ at a current density of 0.2 A g ⁻¹ after 50 cycles, and have potential in applications of energy storage.

Lithium–sulfur (Li-S) batteries are the most attractive candidates for next-generation large-scale energy storage because of their high theoretical energy density and the affordability of sulfur. However, most of the reported research primarily concentrates on low sulfur loading (below 2 mg_s cm⁻²) cathodes using binders and traditional collectors, thus undermining the expected energy density. Herein, a N, O co-doped carbon nanotube (N, O-CNT) decorated wood framework (WF), denoted as WF-CNT, was designed as a free-standing sulfur host, achieving high sulfur loading of 10 mg_s cm⁻². This unique cathode featured low tortuosity microchannels and a conductive framework, reducing the diffusion paths for both ions and electrons and accommodating the volume changes associated with sulfur. Moreover, the internal CNT forests effectively captured soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and catalyze their redox kinetic. Consequently, the S@WF-CNT-800 sample exhibited a high initial discharge capacity of 1438.2 mAh g⁻¹ at a high current density of 0.5 A g⁻¹. Furthermore, a reversible capacity of 404.5 mAh g⁻¹ was obtained after 500 cycles with sulfur loading of 5 mg_s cm⁻² at 0.5 A g⁻¹. This work may support the development of high sulfur loading cathodes utilizing cost-effective and sustainable biomass materials for Li-S batteries.